History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 45

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790

USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania > Part 45

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).

ceding the first Monday of March until changed to the third Tuesday of February by section three, article eight, of the present constitution of this state.

The first borough officers were : Burgess, William Lytle; members of town council, Robert Martin, William S. Cummins, Robert T. Robinson, Bryson Henderson, Joseph Henderson; street commis- sioner, John Ralston; assessor, Henry Smith, assistant assessors, R. M. Gibson, G. W. Burkett; auditor, D. W. Hawk; constable, Elias Kepple; overseers of the poor, William Alexander, Noah Keifer; school directors, John H. Morrison, Joseph Klingenberger, Anderson Henderson, William Haslett, G. W. Burkett, Charles Rosborough.

By act of March 23, 1865, the burgess and town council were empowered to vacate and supply so much of the Ebensburgh and Butler pike as lay within the borough limits.

By act of March 9, 1872, the burgess and town council were authorized to compel by ordinance the owners of property fronting on any of the streets to pave the sidewalks ten feet in front of their respective lots and keep them in good order and repair. In case any owner or owners refuse or neglect to pave, the borough authorities can have the paving of such sidewalks done and enter up liens for the cost of the labor and material within sixty days of the completion of the work, having first given thirty days' notice.

CHURCHES.

The United Presbyterian congregation of Elder- ton was organized December 25, 1854, as an Asso- ciate Presbyterian congregation, with thirty-two members, as follows : Wm. Lytle, Mrs. Mary Lytle, Miss Elizabeth Lytle, Mrs. Nancy Hender- son, W. S. Cummins, Hugh Elgin, Mrs. Mary Elgin, James Elgin, Mrs. Mary Elgin, Jr., Samuel George, Mrs. Eliza George, Miss Sarah McCreight, Mrs. Elizabeth Rupert, Mrs. Jane Clark, Mrs. Eliza Montgomery, Mrs. Martha Martin, John Ralston, Mrs. Jane Ralston, Mrs. Nancy Mitchell, Miss Nancy Mitchell, David McCullough, Sr., Robert McCullough, Mrs. Nancy Cullough, David Rankin, Mrs. L. A. Rankin, Mathew Rankin, Mrs. Margaret Rankin, Mrs. Mary Rankin, Sr., John Rankin, Mrs. Mary Rankin, Jr., Mrs. Jane Hen- derson, James McCreight.

Wm. Lytle and James McCreight were elected ruling elders at the time of the organization. Rev. Byron Porter, the first pastor, was installed in July, 1856. For three years Mr. Porter preached at Elderton one-third of his time, and from that until his death, which occurred November 28, 1876,

THOMAS H. MARSHALL.

. MRS. THO'S. H . MARSHALL .

FMG

RES. OF THOMAS H. MARSHALL, DAYTON, PA.

211

PLUM CREEK TOWNSHIP.

one-half time. Mr. Porter's pastorate was quite prosperons, the congregation having a membership of over one hundred at his death. Until 1862 the congregation worshiped in a brick house which had been erected in 1849 as a Union church by the Presbyterians and Associate Presbyterians of the community. In 1862 the United Presbyterian con- gregation built the present house of worship, a sin- gle-story frame structure, at a cost of about $3,000. The house was not completed and occupied until 1863. Robert McIntosh and David Rankin were ordained elders August 16, 1856. Brice Henderson, W. S. Cummins, Robert Mccullough and William Smith were ordained elders November 15, 1861. The session was further strengthened by the ad- dition of S. B. McNeal, November 5, 1864 ; Alex- ander Hunter, October 21, 1865 ; and Thomas Stur- geon and John M. Hunter, October 3, 1879. Wm. Lytle died August 17, 1873, S. B. McNeal in 187-, and David Rankin October 6, 1880. William Smith and Alexander Hunter were certified in 1872, and W. S. Cummins in 1878 ; Messrs. McCreight, McIntosh, Henderson, Mccullough, Sturgeon and J. M. Hunter form the session at this time.

Rev. J. Buff-Jackson was installed pastor of this congregation in connection with Shelocta, Indiana county, December 11, 1877, and so continues at this time. There are at present one hundred and thirty names on the roll of the congregation.

The following are the names of the present members given as nearly as possible in the order of their admission:

Mrs. Mary Lytle, James Elgin, Mrs. Mary Elgin, Mrs. Jane Clark, Mrs. Eliza Montgomery, Mrs. Martha Martin, Robert Mccullough, Mrs. L. A. Rankin, John Rankin, Mrs. Mary Rankin, Harvey M. Rankin, Mrs. Bell J. Clarke, Miss Clara B. Rankin, Mrs. Permelia Sturgeon, R. A. McCracken, Mrs. Bell McCullongh, Mrs. Nancy B. Mccullough, Hngh E. Rankin, Hugh H. Elgin, Mrs. Annie M. Rankin, Miss M. Ella Sturgeon, Mrs. Carrie M. Jackson, Miss M. N. Henderson, John M. Kepple, Cyrus M. Yount, Byron Porter, Joseph Fry, Mrs. Jane Fry, Mrs. Mary M. Mccullough, Miss Maggie J. Mccullough, Miss Amanda J. Elgin, Miss Mary A. Bleakney, Miss Iris J. Armstrong, Miss Annie M. McCreight, Miss Ella Hunter, E. L. Porter, John M. Rankin, Mrs. Mary A. Rankin, Mrs. Agnes J. McCullongh, Miss Bell J. Rankin, Alexander Rankin, Mrs. Clara E. Rankin, Mrs. M. E. Har- man, Miss Emma J. Painter, Miss Nancy J. Stur- geon, Miss Mary E. Lytle, Mrs. H. J. Ralston, Mrs. Elizabeth Keener, Miss A. B. Montgomery, Mrs. M. J. Ramsey, A. W. Bleakney, R. M. Keener, Mrs. E. J. Ralston, Mrs. Emma Smith, Mrs. S. A.

IIenderson, John R. Porter, W. D. Mccullough, Mrs. Lizzie Lightner, Miss Bell J. Sturgeon, Miss Miss N. E. Mccullough, T. N. Ralston, James A. Smith, John Ramsey, Mrs. Mary Ramsey, William Ramsey, L. C. Gibson, Mrs. C. Gibson, W. B. Sturgeon, A. B. Ramaley, Mrs. M. Kepple, Mrs. Bell Kaylor, Mrs. Callie Yount, Miss Clara I. Sturgeon, Miss Mary E. McNeal, James Smith, Mrs. Margaret Smith, Mrs. Nancy Schrecengost, Miss Della M. Rankin, Miss Bell H. Elgin, Alex- ander Clarke, Thomas A. Mccullough, Alexander Mccullough, Mrs. Jane Moore, James McCreight, Robert McIntosh, John McCullongh, Mrs. Eliza- beth Mccullough, Mrs. Nancy M. Sturgeon, Brice Henderson, Thomas Sturgeon, Mrs. M. A. McIn- tosh, Mrs. Lois Armstrong, Mrs. Catherine Clark, Mrs. Julia A. Smith, Miss Maggie McIntosh, Miss Ellen McIntosh, Mrs. Mary Bleakney, Mrs. Jane M. McCreight, B. W. Armstrong, Mrs. Mary J. Armstrong, William Sturgeon, Mrs. Nancy Stur- geon, Mrs. Jane Sturgeon, Miss Nancy Bleakney, Mrs. Nancy McConnell, Mrs. Elizabeth Dixon, Miss Sarah Smith, William Armstrong, Mrs. Sarah Sturgeon, Mrs. Lydia A. Frailey, Mrs. M. J. Hen- derson, Mrs. Mary A. Elgin, John M. Hunter, Mrs. Emma Hunter, D. A. Ralston, Mrs. Catherine Bleakney, Mrs. M. J. Ramaley, Mrs. A. M. Porter, M. C. Ramaley, S. W. Smith, Miss E. I. Mont- gomery, Mrs. S. J. Mccullough, Miss Ella E. Arm- strong, Miss Alice B. Graham, W. Hays Elgin, T. Porter Sturgeon.

The Presbyterian church was organized by the Blairsville Presbytery in 1855. Rev. Wm. F. Morgan was its pastor one-third of the time until his death. The edifice is frame, 40×50 feet, on the northwest corner of Turnpike street and the street leading into the Rural Village road. Mem- bers, 85; Sabbath-school scholars, 75.

The Methodist Episcopal church is one of the churches belonging to the Elderton circuit, at present under the charge of the Rev. A. Cameron. The edifice is frame, and is situated on the extreme lot, as yet laid out and occupied, on the right-hand side of Saline street, as the observer faces south- west, near the present borough line. Members in that circuit, 230; Sabbath-school scholars, 280.

SCHOOLS.

As early as, perhaps earlier than, 1826 there was an organization called the "New Middletown Schoolhouse Stockholders," to whom Robert J. Elder conveyed, for the sum of ten dollars, a lot containing ninety-two and seven-tenths perches adjoining, or nearly so, this town, on which a schoolhouse was erected, and the first school

212

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

taught in it by Josiah Elder in 1828. That lot has been for years included within the borough limits- The building is frame. The school board con- template securing the two lots adjoining that one and erecting thereon a creditable brick school_ house.

In 1860 the number of schools was 1; months taught, 7; male teacher, 1; salary per month, $20; male scholars, 31; female scholars, 34; average number attending school, 53; cost teaching each per month, 39 cents; amount levied for school pur- poses, $175 ; received from collector, $175; ex- pended-cost of instruction, $150; fuel and con- tingencies, $25.

In 1876 there was one school; months taught, 7; male teacher, 1; salary per month, $40; male scholars, 30 ; female scholars, 35 ; average number attending school, 56; cost per month, 66 cents ; levied for school and building purposes, $281.92; received-from state appropriation, $75.33; from taxes, etc., $315.92; cost of schoolhouse, $14; teacher's salary, $280; fuel, contingencies, etc., $32.94.

The Elderton Academy was founded in 1865. The edifice is frame, one story, eighteen feet high, about 60×30 feet, with two rooms, and situated on the left-hand side of Turnpike street, the observer facing southeast, on the ninth block below Saline street. The instructors have been competent, and the average attendance of students about forty.

A brass band, consisting of fifteen pieces, organ- ized a few years since, is one of the best in the county.

TEMPERANCE.

There has been for many years a strong temper- ance element in this place. The vote against granting license was 30, and for it, 8.

SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY.

On the reception of the news of the first great battle in the war of the rebellion, and on the first intimation given that various articles were needed to make the sick and wounded Union soldiers comfortable, the ladies of Elderton and Plum Creek immediately, even on the Sabbath day, com- menced preparing lint and bandages and collecting delicacies to be forwarded to the suffering with all possible dispatch, and this was continued for a con- siderable time before an association was regularly organized. Much-there is no record of how much -was thus done, some sending their contri- butions to individual soldiers whom they knew. Toward the latter part of the war an account was kept of the money and articles contributed. The aggregate of the former was $169.99, which the

society expended for material on which they ex- pended their labor. Thirteen pages, thirteen by eight inches, are filled with entries of shirts, drawers, packages of bandages, dried fruits, canned fruits, vegetables, etc., received and forwarded through the sanitary commission to the army. The money value of all the contributions made by this society from first to last cannot now be esti- mated, but it is fair to state that the gross amount, if accurately known, would appear to be highly creditable to the humanity and patriotism of those by whom it was contributed.

GEOLOGICAL.

An approximate idea of the geological features around Elderton and throughout Plum creek town- ship is derivable from the following compilation from "Rogers' Geology of Pennsylvania : "

On Crooked creek, 23 miles below Plum creek, the upper Freeport coal is seen 12 feet above the creek, and 42 inches thick as exposed ; it soon dips under the stream. In the bend of Crooked creek the red and variegated shales of the Barren meas- ures, with nodules of hematitic ore, occur 45 feet above the stream and fragments of green fossil- iferous limestone 30 feet above it. The Pitts- burgh coal occurs upon the upland surface three- quarters of a mile southeast of this point on Crooked creek.

The black limestone strata are seen rising west under the greenish strata, one quarter of a mile below the bend, and 20 feet above the creek. Over a dark greenish stratum 10 inches thick lies a nod- ular limestone 5 inches thick ; this, again, is capped by green shales. Half a mile below this the upper Freeport coal rises to a hight of 51 feet above the water level, and is opened 32 feet thick ; roof bitu- minous shale, 1} feet thick.

The ferriferous limestone rises from the creek at Heath's ; it is full of small bivalves (terebratula, etc.), is flinty, thinly stratified, dark blue, and 5 feet thick. A quarry of silicions sandstone, greenish- gray and splitting into slabs, has been blasted in the strata, 20 feet above the limestone, which slabs are used for tombstones in Elderton. Sandstones are largely developed in the bed of the creek be- low the next sawmill. A coal bed 1} feet thick is there, from 20 to 25 feet above the water; the limestone is nowhere visible. A section made in the lofty sides of the valley at that place is as fol- lows : Mahoning massive sandstone, 50 feet; upper Freeport coal, irregular (estimated to be 200 feet above the creek), 3 feet ; unknown, 15 feet ; Free- port limestone, 18 inches ; unknown, 10 feet ; sand- stone and shale, 40 feet ; Freeport sandstone, 50

5, m. Elden

213

PLUM CREEK TOWNSHIP.

feet ; coal, a few inches ; shale, 16 feet ; sandstone, 4 feet ; unknown, 41 feet.

Kittanning coal (possibly the ferriferous coal), 1} feet; unknown down to the creek and full of fossils, 6 feet thick. Depth of salt well is said to be 500 feet. A little to the east of this appears to run the highest or axis line of the third anticlinal flexure. The Freeport limestone, bearing its char- acteristic minute fossils, has fallen so far in its level by the time it has reached Cochran's mill, 300 yards above the next saltworks, that it is but 24 feet above the dam; it is seminodular, and 2 feet thick. The upper Freeport coal overlies it 23 feet, and is itself 3 feet thick. It is a thicker bed some hundred yards southwest, and the coal out- crop is 10 feet above it. A coalbed is seen at a level 100 feet higher in the hillside. Beneath it is seen a massive sandstone, but the fossils of the limestone seem decisive against that supposition. At the lower saltworks is a coalbed 3 feet thick and 60 feet above the stream.

Turning from the southern to somewhat be- yond the northern boundary of Plum Creek town- ship, at Patterson's mill, on the Cowanshannock

creek, the Kittanning bed, covered by 40 feet of shale, reads thus : Bituminous shale, 3 feet ; coal and slate interleaved, vegetable impressions nu- merous, 12 inches ; coal, 12 inches, 7 feet above level of water; floor, black slate. Lower down it reads thus: Black slate, 5 feet ; coal, 5 inches ; bituminous pyritous slate, 18 inches ; coal, 15 inches ; slaty coal, 14 inches.

Two miles west of Rural village, on a farm formerly known as Smith's tract, the upper Free- port coalbed is 150 or more feet above the creek, and is 4 feet thick, of good quality, but with a little sulphur. Ten feet below it is the ferriferous limestone, 5 feet thick. Fifty feet below the lime- stone is seen the lower Freeport coal, said to be 1} feet thick. Upwards of 100 feet lower down, near the creek level, is the Kittanning coalbed, thick- ness unknown. This locality is on the east side of the fourth axis, and distant from it about 23 miles; dip southeast.

Such are the geological features of the territory between Crooked and Cowanshannock creeks, in the scope of country comprised within the limits of Plum Creek township.

CHAPTER IX.

WAYNE.

Set off from Plum Creek in 1821 - Named in Honor of " Mad Anthony "-The Original Land Tracts - Their Early Owners and the Settlers Upon Them -The North American Land Company-Gen. Robert Orr Succeeds the Company in Ownership of Their Lands in Armstrong County - Holland Land Company's Tracts-John Brodhead's Survey District - William and Joseph Marshall -James Shields- A Sparsely Settled Region - Slow Increase in Population - Religious History - First Sermon - Rev. Robert MeGarraugh, the Pioneer of Presbyterianism - Educational Interests - Pioneer Schools - Later Advantages - Belknap Independent District - Glade Run Academy-Its Graduates -First Gristmill - Distilleries -Olney Furnace -Iron Foundry - The First Professional Men - Postoffices - Borough of Dayton -Churches - Dayton Academy - Soldiers' Orphans' School - Common Schools - Incorporation -Statistics - Appropriateness of the Name of Dayton.

THE petition of sundry inhabitants of Plum Creek township, praying for its division, was presented to the court of quarter sessions of this county at September sessions, 1820. James White (surveyor), Abraham Zimmerman, Jacob Beck, Noah A. Calhoun, Joseph Marshall and John Thom were appointed the viewers or commission- ers. Their report in favor of the division was presented at the next December sessions, held over, and approved March 19, 1821. The new township of Wayne was then ordered and decreed to be erected with the following boundaries : Beginning on Mahoning creek at the lower end of Anderson's cave; thence south five miles to a white oak; thence south ten degrees east four miles to the purchase line; thence by plot along said line to the line between Armstrong and Indiana counties; thence by plot along said line to Mahoning creek; and thence down the same to the place of beginning. It having been at the same time represented to the court that the viewers had gone beyond the western line of Plum Creek township and included a part of Kittanning township, it was further ordered, "that the new township of Wayne be bounded by that of Kittanning."

The records do not show who was appointed to hold the first election. In the absence of the docket containing the election returns of the various election districts in this county prior to 1839, the names of the township officers then elected have not been ascertained.

This township was christened, of course, in honor of General Anthony Wayne, of fragrant revolutionary memory. His illustrious career is so familiar to the people, and especially to Pennsyl- vanians, that a minute and extended mention of his impetuous valor, unwavering fidelity and patriot-

ism, military genius and ability would here be superfluous.

The original tracts of land in the eastern section of this township, that is, east of an imaginary line extending from north to south, crossing Glade run about 275 rods above its mouth, were the following:

Two tracts, warrants No. 5146, 5147, each con- taining 1,100 acres, surveyed to Thomas W. Hiltz- heimer, on those warrants, dated February 6, 1794, which Hiltzheimer conveyed to Gen. Daniel Brod- head, December 29, 1795. The latter, by his will, dated August 8, 1809, devised the same to the children of his daughter, Anna Heiner, namely, John Heiner, of Jefferson county, Virginia ; Cathe- rine, wife of John Broadhead, of Wayne county, Pennsylvania ; Margaret, wife of John Faulk, of the last-mentioned county, and Rebecca J., wife of Samuel Johuston, of Sussex county, New Jersey. Faulk and wife, December 1, 1814, Heiner and wife, August 29, 1815, and Brodhead and wife, July 14, 1817, conveyed their respective undivided one-fourth parts of those two tracts to Robert Brown, of Kittanning. Brodhead and Johnston and their wives conveyed 100 acres of tract sur- veyed on warrant No. 5147, to Brown, May 30, 1816, for $20. A considerable portion of the con- sideration from that vendee to those vendors consisted of lots in the then town, now borough, of Kittanning. Johnston and wife conveyed 100 acres of the southern end of tract surveyed on warrant No. 5146, to James Kirkpatrick, and on February 4, 1819, the undivided one-half part of the residue of this last-mentioned tract for $500, all of which, except $47.74, was paid in Johnston's lifetime, and the balance to his widow, who, by Daniel Stannard, her attorney in fact, executed a

215

WAYNE TOWNSHIP.

second conveyance, January 17, 1828. From a list of taxes on Gen. Brodhead's lands in this county, for the years 1806-7-8, obtained by the writer from Edgar A. Brodhead, it appears that those two tracts, then in Kittanning township, were assessed with $8.26 road tax and $16.50 county tax in each of the years 1806-7, and with $7.50 road and $8.26 county, in 1808. John Rutherford seated 200 acres, and Jacob Peelor 300 acres of tract No. 5146, and Joseph Marshall, Jr., 114, James Kirkpatrick, 200, John Calhoun, 144, James McGahey, 50, Abel Findley, 100, and James Russell, 130 acres of tract No. 5147.

In the southeastern corner of the township is a portion of the Harmon Le Roy & Co's tract No. 3095, extending into Cowanshannock township and Indiana county, which will be elsewhere more particularly mentioned.

North of the last-mentioned tract were the two contiguous tracts surveyed by warrants Nos. 558 and 553, the former of which contained 400 and the latter 474 acres. They were surveyed to Ephraim Blaine on those warrants. The latter was seated by Robert Marshall. Fifty acres of the former were occupied by Thomas Duke, from 1830 until 1840, and by William Kinnan for several years. Blaine was a resident of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the earlier years of the revolutionary war. In the spring of 1777 the appointment of sub-lieutenant of Cumberland county was tendered to him, which he declined for these reasons, given in his letter of April 7, to President Wharton : "The differ- ence of sentiment which prevails in Cumberland county about the constitution and the ill-judged appointment of part of the sub-lieutenants are my principal reasons for not accepting for the present the commission your honor and the council were pleased to offer me of the lieutenancy. I shall, however, study to render the public every service in my power." He was afterward appointed deputy commissary general for the middle de- partment. In February or March, 1780, he was appointed commissary general, which position he probably filled until the close of the war. His name appears in the list of the names of men re- siding at Fort Pitt, July 22, 1760. He was the great-grandfather of James G. Blaine, the distin- guished United States Senator from Maine-a native of Pennsylvania.

Those two Blaine tracts extended from the above-mentioned Harmon LeRoy & Co.'s tract, along the Indiana county line, 325 rods ; thence northwest 200 rods, thence west 200 rods, thence south 475 rods, and thence east 325 rods. Glade run traverses the territory of which the northern

or larger of these tracts consisted, in a westerly and northwesterly course.

Adjoining the last-mentioned tract on the west was the James Hamilton tract, covered by war- rant No. 358, containing 400 acres. It was sur- veyed to James Hamilton, of Carlisle, Pennsylva- nia, on that warrant. The patent was granted to his son James, March 3, 1832. It was conveyed to James Hamilton, of Jefferson county, Pennsyl- vania, August 6, 1834, who conveyed 1317 acres of it to William Borland, June 18, 1836, for $492.373, which then adjoined lands of William Kirkpatrick, John Borland, William Cochran, James Marshall, John Calhoun and Noah A. Cal- houn.

Adjoining that tract on the north was the Timo- thy Pickering & Co. tract, covered by warrant No. 262, dated May 17, 1785. There being some nota- ble points on this tract, some of its various trans- fers are here presented. It was a part of Gen. James Potter's estate, which became vested in his son, James Potter, who covenanted, May 9, 1795, to convey it as containing 1,000 acres to Ephraim Blaine. ' His heirs, believing that he had made a deed therefor which was lost, for the purpose of confirming and ratifying their father's agreement, executed, March 20, 1837, a deed to John Hays and Rev. Adam Gilchrist, whose wives were dauglı- ters of Robert Blaine and granddaughters of Eph- raim Blaine, who were desirous of obtaining a patent and perfect title. The tract was found to contain 1,099 acres. Ephraim Blaine had paid for only 1,000, but these heirs considered that the excess of 99 acres would be a fair equivalent for obtaining the patent and completing the title. They therefore conveyed to Hays and Gilchrist the entire tract, which subsequently became vested in John Hays, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, partly in his own right and partly in that of his children, Mary W. Hays, afterward the wife and widow of Capt. West, of the United States army, Robert B. Hays, and John Hays, Jr., with all of whom the writer subsequently became acquainted. The two last named were his pupils at the Plainfield Academy, near Carlisle. John Hays, Sr., conveyed his right in that tract to David Ralston, March 23, 1839, for $7,375, and by virtue of an act of assembly, ap- proved July 5, 1839, he conveyed as guardian the interest of his wards therein, October 5, then next, to David Ralston, for $1,000. The latter conveyed one-third thereof, respectively, to Thomas White and James McKennan, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1844, the consideration expressed in each conveyance being $1, also, April 7, 1845, his undi- vided third part, two tracts, to McKennan, for $850.

216

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

John Hays, Sr., was a son of John and Mary Hays, both of whom participated in the battle of Monmouth, N. J., in the revolutionary war. He was a sergeant in a company of artillery, who is said to have directed a cannon at least a part of the time. When he was carried from the field, his wife was approaching with a pitcher of water for him and others, took his place by that cannon, loaded and fired at least once, insisted on remain- ing, and left with much reluctance. Gen. Wash- ington either saw or heard of the service, which she thus rendered, and commissioned her as ser- geant by brevet. The morning after the battle she rescued from a pit one of her friends, who had been thrown into it, with others, as dead, carried him in her arms to the hospital and nursed him until he recovered, from whom, many years afterward, when he had learned her residence through the pension office, she received a box of presents and an invitation to make his home her home. She was in the army seven years and nine months, and in which she served with her husband after that battle. After the war she and her husband removed to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he subsequently died, and she married Sergeant McAuley, who em- bittered her life by his drunkenness and abuse, and for years lived on her earnings. She received an annual pension of $40 as the widow of John Hays, and during the last week of her life, her grand- daughter says, one was granted to her in her own right. She died in January, 1832, in her ninetieth year, and was buried beside her first husband with military honors by several companies that followed her remains to the grave-"Molly Pitcher's" grave. She was called "Molly Pitcher" because of her carrying that pitcher of water to the thirsty sol- diers on that intensely hot day of the battle of Monmouth.

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.

History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 45

Author: Smith, Robert Walter Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins Number of Pages: 790

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790