USA > Pennsylvania > Historical register : notes and queries historical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 17
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The conducting of five hundred German and English emi- grants from Philadelphia via Lancaster, Harrisburg, Northum- berland, Tioga, Painted Post, to Bath, by General Williamson, in 1792, referred to in our April number, excited the citizens in the several localities named, and they became greatly inter- ested in the Genesee country. Within a short time after the arrival of Gen. Williamson and his colony at Bath, mechanics,
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Pennsylvanians in the " Genesee Country."
farmers, speculators, and tradesmen, from Philadelphia. Chester. Lancaster, York, Cumberland. Dauphin. Lebanon. Berks, North- ampton, and Northumberland counties, followed up the road cut by Genl. Williamson and his party, or ascended the Sus- quehanna via the West and North branches, and reached the Eldorado of the Genesee. Although Genl. Williamson had established himself at Bath, in the Genesee country, he still relied upon Northumberland as the base of his supplies. Judge MeMasters, in his writing of that period, says: "He (Genl. Wilkinson) established his centre of organization and correspondence at the village of Northumberland, situated on the Susquehanna, at the mouth of the West Branch of that river, then a place of much consequence, and one, which at this day, (1850,) though somewhat decayed, retains an ancient and old-fashioned respectability of appearance not to be seen in the dashing young towns of New York, west of the Mohawk. To this old town we owe, at least, civility. For a time, during the infancy of our country (Steuben), it was one great reliance against starvation and nakedness. It supplied us with flour. when we had no grain; with pork, when we had no meat ; with clothes, when we were unclad; with shoes, when we were unshod. It sent us our mails, it fitted out our caravans of emigrants, it received, with hearty cheer, our gentlemen when weary of riding over the desolate Lycoming road.
"Many impudent villagers of the North, which now like light- headed youngsters, keep their fast telegraphs, smoke anthracite coal, and drive their two-minute locomotives, as if they in- herited estates from their ancestors, were, if the truth must be told, once shabby and famished settlements; and when faint and perishing, were saved from starvation, by this portly old Susquehanna farmer (Northumberland). who sent out his hired men with baskets of corn and huge shoulders of pork with orders, to see to it, that not a squatter went hungry.
"By extraordinary good luck these lean squatters became sud- denly.rich ; and now arrayed in very flashy style, with Gothic steeples, and Moorish pavilions, and all such trumpetry, driv- ing their fine chariots, and smoking their sheet-iron funnels, they laugh most impertinently. and we may say ungratefully, at the
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old Quaker who had compassion on them when they lay starv- ing in the underbrush. These things let the lumberman re- member, when from his raft he sees the white steeples of North- umberland, relieved against the dark precipice beyond: the West Branch, meanwhile, pouring its flood into the lordly Sus- quehanna and renowned Shamokin dam, the Charybdis of pilots, roaring below." Judge McMasters should have explained that a large portion of the settlers, whom Northumberland relieved and assisted, were Pennsylvanians, and neighbors and friends of Northumberland. All honor to Northumberland ! Under all circumstances she did a noble and kindly work.
At the same time that General Williamson and his party were making settlements on the Conhocton river at Bath, an- other party, who had purchased lands of him, were locating on the Canisteo river at and near the present town of Hornells- ville. These settlers were principally of New England descent, but more recently from the county of Luzerne, in Pennsyl- vania. They had not only been through the war of the Revo- lution but through the war between Pennsylvania and Con- necticut. Among these settlers were Jedediah Stephens, Uriah Stephens, Solomon Bennett, William Wyncoop, Elisha Brown. Joel Thomas, James Hadley, and John Jameson. Some of them had made several "removes" from their Wyoming val- ley homes before locating on the banks of the Canisteo. Two townships were purchased, and upon the river flats a log house was erected, 26x24, with one room below, but supplied with four fire-places, one in each corner. Judge McMasters says: "In the following spring (1790) a family was encamped before each of these fire-places, and occupied its own territory with as much good humor as if divided from the others by stone walls and gates of brass." Upon this purchase there were many acres of cleared land, covered with an obstinate growth of grass, which required four yokes of oxen to pull the plow through. The origin of these meadows was never ascertained by the settlers. An Indian, Captain John, was interrogated, ! ut their history was beyond his time or traditions. After the frosts in autumn, when the grass had become dry, this minia- ture prairie was set on fire. which burned with great rapidity.
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Pennsylvanians in the " Genesee Country."
It was in this vicinity where the Kanisteo Castle, a Delaware Indian town, was located. It was the seat of At-weet-se-ra, the Delaware King. The castle was destroyed by Montour and Brandt, in 1764. by the order of Sir William Johnson. of Johnson Hall, on the Mohawk. There were at that time in the village surrounding the castle about sixty hewed log houses, occupied by a mixed set of Indians of different tribes, who had refused to give up two murderers, who had killed two German traders in the land of the Senecas.
Jedediah Stephens went into the Canisteo valley (in the Genesee country) from Wyoming, Pa., in May, 1790. He was born May 11, 1757, at Canaan, Litchfield county, Connecticut. Married Abigail Corey, at Goshen, Orange county, New York, January 1, 1778; served six years in the Continental army, during the revolutionary war; was in the Indian battle at Wyoming, July 3, 1778, where his brother Rufus was killed. He owned a farm at Wyoming; was taken prisoner by Col. Plunket, but after a few days was released. In May, 1790, with his wife and family of five children-Abigail, Silas, Nathan, Sylvina, and Cynthia,-removed from Wyoming and settled on lot No. 10, in the town of Canisteo. He purchased six hundred acres of timbered land, some fifty acres of which he had cleared prior to his death, January 26, 1830. While Canisteo belonged to Ontario county, in 1793-4 he represented his town as supervisor (see history of Steuben county, page 227). The descendants of Jedediah Stephens have been, and are, among the most influential and respected citizens of the Can- isteo valley.
Uriah Stephens was a native of Litchfield county, Connec- ticut. Married Martha Rathbun, a native of Stonington. Of this union were born-before the family emigrated-Benjamin, who died in the revolutionary war; Mrs. Solomon Bennett, Mrs. Daniel McHenry, Uriah, junior, John, Mrs. Judge George Hornell, Phineas, Elias, Elijah, William, and Benjamin 2d. The family.left Connecticut in 1766, and settled in Stillwater, N. Y., and afterwards in Northumberland, Pa. ; thence to Tioga Point (Athens, Pa.); thence to Newtown (Elmira, N. Y.); and, in 1789, the father, in company with his sons Uriah and John,
.
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his sons-in-law, Solomon Bennett and James Hadley, explored the Canisteo valley. Uriah Stephens, senior, was a soldier of the French and Indian war; his son, Uriah, junior, took his place, and served through the entire Indian war on the Indian frontier of Pennsylvania. It was during this and subsequent periods that he became identified with Pennsylvania. He mar- ried, while in the Wyoming country, Elizabeth Jones, in the year 1785, of which union were born three sons and five daugh- ters. He died August 2, 1849, aged eighty-eight years; and his wife March 30, 1849, aged eighty-three years. His de- scendants are still living in che Canisteo valley.
Judge McMasters, writing of the settlement on the Canisteo, says: "A large portion of the first settlers of Canisteo were from Pennsylvania, and had within them a goodly infusion of that boisterous spirit of love of rough play for which the free. manly sons of the backwoods are everywhere famous. On the Susquehanna frontier, before the Revolution had arisen, an athletic, scuffling, wrestling race, lovers of hard blows, sharp- shooters, and runners, who delighted in nothing more than in those ancient sports by which the backs and limbs of all stout-hearted youths have been tested since the days of Her- cules. The eating of bears, the drinking of grog, the devour- ing of hominy, venison, and all invigorating diet of the fron- tiers; the hewing down of forests, the paddling of canoes, the fighting of savages, all combined to form a generation of yeo- men and foresters daring, rude, and free." Canisteo was a "out from this stout stock, and on the generous river flats rished with amazing vigor. Life there was decidedly Olympic. "The Romans of the West" were not long in find- ing out these cousins, and many a rare riot they had with each other. The savages came down, four or five times in each year, from Squakie Hill for horse and foot racing, and to play all manner of rude sporting games. In wrestling or in "rough and tumble " they were not matches for the settlers, many of whom were proficient in the Susquehanna sciences, and had been regularly trained in all the wisdom of the ancient .: The Indians were powerful of frame and of good natur. The settlers agree that "they were as quick as cats," but "tic por
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Pennsylvanians in the " Genesee Country."
critters had no system." In these wrestling matches Elias Stephens was the champion. He was called the "smartest Stephens on the river." No Indian in the Six Nations " could lay him on his back."
General Williamson was indefatigable in his efforts to peo- ple, with permanent settlers. the Pultney estate. Constructing roads, erecting hotels at convenient stages, building mills for manufacturing of lumber and the grinding of grain. improv- ing the navigation of the river, and building boats to ply upon the waters of Seneca lake, Canandaigua, and other lakes within his territory. The first craft (a sloop) launched upon Seneca lake was built under the direction of Genl. Williamson, in 1796, and ran between Catherines town, Watkins, and Kana- desaga, now Geneva. Many Pennsylvanians assisted Genl. Williamson in his enterprises, and became citizens in the Gen- esee country ; purchasing lands, establishing homes for them- selves and their posterity.
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THE POLLOCK FAMILY OF PENNSYLVANIA. BY REV. HORACE EDWIN HAYDEN.
IIL
Descendants of John, James, and Charles Pollock, brothers, who emigrated from Coleraine, Ireland, about 1750, and settled in Pennsylvania.
The following genealogical notes came into my hands from various quarters, while making researches into the family his- tory of James and Oliver Pollock, of Carlisle, Pa. I have thrown them into shape and present them in their imperfect condition ; leaving the work of completion to those more im- mediately connected with this house. The records of the first two generations are based on a letter written in 1848, to Wil- liam Pollock by his uncle James, of Erie county, son of Charles. and born 1769. A copy of this letter has been sent me by Cap- tain O. W. Pollock, U. S. A., stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. With the facts of this letter, all the traditions of other descend- ants agree.
James says: "My father, Charles, had three brothers, John, James, and Thomas. They all came to the Colonies many years before the revolution. Thomas remained but a short time, when he returned to Ireland, and being an educated man, he applied himself to the study of physick; which pro- fession he practiced during the remainder of his life." The .etter further states, in substance, all the particulars noted in he following record of John, James, and Charles, and adds: "y: father had three sisters; I do not know their christian but their husbands' names were McLeon, Sheriff, and Coiwell. The latter dying, his widow married an Allison, and settled in Nova Scotia."
In addition to this letter, Mr. William W. Hart, of Wil- liamsport, gr .- gr .- grandson of John, has in his possession letters from Ireland, from which the following is gleaned :
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The Pollock Family of Pennsylvania.
In a letter from Wm. Scull to John Pollock, dated January 28, 1771, he says: "My love to cousin Nelly and aunt Jarvis." In a letter from Thomas Pollock to his brother, John Pol- lock, dated at Coleraine, August 3, 1785, he says: "Betty and Mary join in most tender regards to you and family, and Mr. Barber and family." In a letter from Eliza Pollock to David Barber, Northumberland, Pa., and dated, as all the letters are. from Coleraine, Ireland, May 22, 1797, she addresses him as "Dear Brother," and says: "Brother Bob had some intention to go to America, but found it was not in his power this season ;" again, "Brother John, they say, has left Carlisle:" and again, "Sister Jane is no more; she departed this life the 17th of February, 1797." The letter closes thus: "Dr. and Mary join in love to you and brother John." From these records I deduce the following genealogy :
·
A gentleman of the name of Pollock, living at Coleraine, Ireland, had the following children :
1. i. John Pollock, b. March 3, 1724, Coleraine ; d. July 16, 1794, Carlisle, Pa .; m. 1" Catherine Campbell ; 24 Eleanor Scull.
ii. Thomas Pollock, M. D., b. -; d. unm.
iii. Robert Pollock, b.
2. iv. James Pollock, b. 172S, Coleraine ; d. 1812; m. Mary Heron.
3. v. Charles Pollock, b. C., 1732; d. March 1785; m. Agnes Steele.
ti. Jane Pollock, d. Feb. 17, 1797, at Coleraine, Ireland : m. - - McLean ?
vii. Eliza Pollock, m. - Sheriff ?
viii. Mary Pollock.
ix. Pollock, m. 1st Mr. Colwell ? ? ' Mr. Allison ; removed to Nova Scotia.
x. Elizabeth Pollock, d. at Coleraine.
xi. ---- Pollock, m. Davis Barber, of Northumberland, Pa., possibly having emigrated with her brothers.
According to James, this emigration occurred when Charles was twenty-two or three years of age. He having died in 1795, this fixes the date of emigration at 1750. James also says that John located at Carlisle, Pa. : James in Ligonier val- ley, Westmoreland county, Pa .; and Charles in Northumber- land county, Pa.
I. JOHN POLLOCK, b. March 3, 1724, in Coleraine, Ireland :
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settled in Carlisle, Pa .. where he was twice married. First. March 8. 1759, to CATHERINE CAMPBELL, dau. of Alexander Campbell, of Cumberland valley, who d. December 12, 1765. M. second, June 18, 1766. to ELEANOR SCULL, dau. of Wil- liam Seull, Deputy Surveyor of Pennsylvania. 1769, and sheriff of Northumberland county, 1775. and grandson of Nicholas Scull. Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, and a niece of Benjamin Franklin, LL. D. John Pollock was a merchant. distiller, and hotel keeper in Carlisle. He also engaged largely in land speculation. He sold a valuable property in Carlisle, for which he got his pay in Continental money, which, becom- ing greatly depreciated, caused him heavy losses. He was at one time postmaster of Carlisle. He died July 16, 1794, at Carlisle, leaving sufficient property to insure the comfort of his family. His widow. Eleanor, survived him fourteen years, as her will is dated Carlisle, August 29, 1808. In it she calls herself "widow of John Pollock, dec'd," and mentions "Sister Elizabeth, (Scull,) widow of John McDaniel," and her " daugh- ter-in-law, Eleanor Armstrong," and "Jean Pollock, wife of Alexander Pollock." She d. s. p.
Children by first marriage, all born at Carlisle :
4. i. Eleanor, b. February 7, 1760 ; m. James Armstrong. ii. Thomas, b. March 22, 1762; a lawyer ; d. unm., 1812.
5. iii. Alexander, b. January 30, 1764; d. 1801 ; m. Jane Sheriff. iv. John, b. December 11, 1765; d. February 18, 1772.
II. JAMES POLLOCK, b. about 1728, in Coleraine, Ireland : settled in Ligonier valley. Westmoreland county, Pa., at what is now Greensburg, about 1773, where he became a prominent citizen, and died in 1812. He m., about 1770, MARY HERON, of Heron's Branch, Franklin county, Pa. ; she d. November 5, 1820. He was appointed the first justice of the peace in that part of the State, having taken with him a commission from the Governor. on his removal to Westmoreland, dated Febru- ary 27, 1773 ; re-appointed January 11, 1774. This office he held until the adoption of the Constitution of 1776. He was appointed, March 21, 1777, sub-lieutenant of the county, hold- ing the office until he was superseded April 2, 1778, for reasons which appear thus in the Penn'a Col. Records, xi, 455:
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The Pollock Family of Pennsylvania.
"George Reading, Esq., was appointed by the House of As- sembly to be sub-lieutenant of Westmoreland county, in room of James Pollock, who is superseded because he hath not taken the oath of allegiance to the State." Mr. Pollock repre- sented his county, one or more sessions, in the Legislature of the State. "He was possessed of considerable worldly means for that period and, in a season of peculiar scarcity, his poor neighbors received grain and other necessaries from him, with- out money and without price." His grandson, Rev. J. T. - Lytle, records an incident which illustrates his force of char- acter, as well as that of his wife. Mrs. P. had accompanied a small caravan of the neighbors, who had gone east of the mountains to obtain salt, iron, and other necessaries, and on re- turning they were met on the top of the Alleghenies by a number of persons fleeing from the Indians, who were reported to have entered the valley. They represented to her the danger of proceeding, and tried to persuade her to turn back. "I will go on till I see Jamie," was her reply. She pursued her jour- ney, and found all in peace, and her husband awaiting her re- turn. The alarm was a false one. Before the fugitives started they had gathered around Mr. P. and tried to persuade him to flee with them, but he quietly remarked. "I will wait till I see Mary."
Mr. Pollock was visited by a very severe affliction in the tragic death of his son David, who was killed January 30, 1807, under the following circumstances: He had gone over the mountains eastward, on business, or, as some suppose, on an affair of the heart. In his return he had stopped at the house of one Statler, or Slotter, on the mountain, to take break- fast and feed his horse, and had proceeded on his journey. He had not traveled far when two men stopped and shot him; they then drew him off the road and robbed him, concealing his body behind a log, and made for the woods. This occurred on the old Pennsylvania road between Stoystown and Statler's tavern. Some packers from Westmoreland county, traveling down the road and near the place, heard the report of two guns. Coming to the spot, they found a hat, a whip, and a horse; they also saw tracks into the woods, which they traced
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for two or three rods, but could see nothing more. They then went on towards Statler's, and soon met a footman to whom they showed what they had found, and told the story. The footman knew the horse and said he had traveled in company with the owner the day before. The packers then took the horse on to Statler's; Mr. S. immediately sent an express to Stoystown. In the meanwhile, some horsemen coming up the road, examined the place and found the body within a rod or two of the road. While the packers were coming with the footman they saw two armed men on the road, who immedi- ately took to the woods. The neighbors then collected and pursued them, and, about midnight, found them in a house about six miles from Somerset. The woman of the house came out and told the party there were two men in the house. The men heard the noise and prepared to escape. Two of the party, Macks Koontz and Jacob Lambert, went in. One of the men, who afterwards proved to be the murderers, attempted to escape by the door, and on his way fired at one of the party, the bullet passing through his clothes. The man was then fired on by a number and instantly killed. The other was quietly arrested and lodged in the Somerset jail. From papers found on their person they proved to be Frenchmen, named Noel Huguel and John Duplie Arnaud. Huguel, the surviv- ing murderer, was tried at Somerset, convicted, and hung. They bore the evidences of their guilt on their person. The body of Mr. Pollock was stabbed in ten or fifteen places. He had been shot through the neck and his throat cut in such a manner as nearly to sever his head from his body. A part of the dirk, with which he had been stabbed, was found in the body; the other part, with Mr. P.'s watch and seventy dollars in money, was found in the possession of the prisoners. The indignation of the people was such that Huguel had to be pro- tected from lynch law.# On the same day, January 20, 1807, Mrs. Rachel Pollock, wife of Thomas, the eldest brother of David, died in childbed. The Rev. Mr. Lytle states, that while the two dead bodies lay in the same room at the house
*See American Register 1806-7, i. 214.
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The Pollock Family of Pennsylvania.
of James Pollock, Mrs. P., the mother, replied to one of the women present, who was trying to console her, " It might be worse." "But what could be worse," the friend replies ; " here is your son murdered and your daughter-in-law dead ?" "Well," said Mrs. P., "it would have been great a deal worse if my son had murdered some other man." David Pollock was a very promising young man of 22 or 23 years of age.
JAMES POLLOCK had children :
6. i. Thomas, b. 1772; d. 1847; m. 1st Rachel Hendricks; 2ª Su- san Henderson.
ii. Elizabeth, m. John McCoy.
iii. Mary, m. David Knox.
iv. James, d. unm.
7. v. John, b. 1783 ; d. 1862; m. Elizabeth Hamill.
vi. David, b. 1784-5; d. Jany. 30, 1807.
8. vii. Nancy, b. 1789 ; d. 1845 ; m. William Lytle.
IIL CHARLES POLLOCK, b. about 1732, in Coleraine, Ire- land ; d. March, 1795, in White Deer, Buffalo valley, in his sixty-third year. James, his son, says: "I think I recollect hearing my father say he was twenty-one or two when he came to America." This would place the emigration of this family at 1750. Charles located in Northumberland county, near Fort Augusta-now Sunbury. Owned pew 32, Buffalo Town- ship Presbyterian church, in 1791. He m. AGNES, OR AGNEZE STEELE, daughter of Adam Steele, of Northumberland county, who came to Pennsylvania from Ireland before 1750. [Steele had two sons, William and Richard Steele ; and five daughters, Susanna, who m. Giler, and was shot by the Indians while milking her cow; Sarah, who m. - Whiteside; Jane, who m. - Huston ; and Mary, who m. - Lytle.] Chil- dren :
i. John, d. unm. Mch., 1795.
9. ii. Adam, b. 1767 ; d. 1816 ; m. 1801, Elizabeth Gilliland.
10. iii. James, b. Aug. 8, 1769; d. May 24, 1857 ; m. June 2, 1801, Mary Steele.
11. iv. Thomas, b. 1772; d. Sept. 29, 1844; m. 1st in 1796, Mar- garet Fruit , 21 in 1820, Eleanor Knox.
12. v. William, b. 1773; m. Sallie Fruit; removed to Clarion county, Pa.
. vi. Richard, d. unm. and young.
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vii. Charles, b. 1780; d. Aug., 1798; he was apprenticed to Robert Giffen to learn the tanning business ; he injured himself carrying four bushels of grain some distance, up into a loft, and superinduced the disease from which he died in his 19th year.
viii. Mary, b. 1782 ; d. 1784.
ix. Jane, b. 1784; d. 1784, aged 6 weeks.
13. x. Robert, b. May 22, 1785; d. Feb. 22, 1844; m. Margaret Anderson.
IV. ELEANOR POLLOCK, (John,) b. February 7. 1760, Car- lisle, Pa. ; d. ---; m. May 24, 1788, in First Presbyterian church, Carlisle, to JAMES ARMSTRONG. They lived near Warrior church, in Northumberland county, and had a large family. Among their children were:
i. Eleanor, m. Andrew Guffy, of McEwensville, from whom de- scended A. J. Guffy, of Watsontown, Pa.
ii. Rev. Richard, b. April 13, 1805, at Turbottsville, Pa. ; gradu- ated A. B. Dickinson Coll. 1827, M. A. 1830 ; graduated Princeton Theological Sem. 1831; m. Clarissa Chapman, b. May 15, 1805, Russell, Mass. They went as missionaries to the Sandwich Islands in 1832.
V. ALEXANDER POLLOCK. (John,) b. January 30, 1764; d. , 1806; m., in 1789, his first cousin, JANE SHERIFF, who d. in 1816. Children :
i. John, b. 1792; d. 1800.
ii. Thomas, b. 1795 ; d. 1854; m. Catherine Davis and had one dau., who m. S. D. Ball, of Lock Haven, Pa.
iii. Eleanor, b. Oct. 28, 1798; d. Nov. 28, 1866; m. Adam Hart, Muncy Station, Pa., and had William W., lawyer, at Wil- liamsport, Pa., and Kate, living at Muncy.
it. Mary, b. Dec. 3, 1801 ; d. Feb. 8, 1878; m. Samuel Guffey, and lived in Mercer county, Illinois.
VI. THOMAS POLLOCK, (James, ) b. 1772 ; d. 1847 : m. 1st, RACHEL HENDRICKS: d. January 30, 1807, at Greensburg ; she was sister to Governor Wm. Hendricks, of Indiana, the father of Hon. Thomas H. Hendricks. 2d, SUSAN HENDER- SON. He was one of the commissioners of Westmoreland county ; member of the State Legislature for several sessions: for many years associate judge, and an elder in the Presby- terian Church. Children :
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