History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 148

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

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Walter Finney, born in New London, 1748, purchased the farm on which his father had lived, and, with the ex- ception of the time spent in the service of his country, passed his days in the cultivation thereof.

He joined the American army, with the rank of lieu- tenant, at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, serving throughout that memorable contest, and also through the Indian wars at the conclusion of the Revolu- tion. During his service he attained to the rank of cap- tain, and was brevetted a major Aug. 10, 1776; among other engagements, was in the battle of Brandywine; on one occasion was wounded in the head by a grape-shot ; experienced captivity in a New York prison-ship, where he was nearly starved to death before he was exchanged; and although clearly entitled to a pension, he never applied for it. While a young and enthusiastic lieutenant, Mr. Finney manifested his patriotic zeal by fitting out at his own ex- pense two of his servants who had entered the provincial service in Col. Atlee's battalion.

At the conclusion of his military career, Capt. Finney became a member of the State Society of the Cincinnati, and was soon after appointed a justice of the County Court ; under the constitution of 1790 he was an associ- ate judge of the court, in which office he was continued until his decease, Sept. 20, 1820. He had presided over the courts for several years when they were held by the justices of the peace ; and after the appointment of judges he usually presided in the absence of the president judge, and it is said conducted the business with great satisfaction.

Walter Finney was one of the fairest specimens of a Pennsylvania patriot. Honest and faithful, a good citizen and a pious man, he was always ready to do his duty to the republic.

He married Mary O'Hara, who died Aug. 10, 1823, and both are buried at Thunder Hill.

548

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

FITZPATRICK, JAMES,* commonly known in those days as Capt. Fitz or Fitch, was the son of an Irishman, and when a boy was bound by his father to John Passmore, a worthy citizen of Doe Run, who resided on the farm now owned by Benjamin Seal, in whose family he was brought up, and from whom he learned his trade, that of a black- smith. He appears to have behaved well during his ap- prenticeship, and to have served his master faithfully. He is said in his boyhood to have manifested great superiority in athletic exercises, at which he practiced a great deal.

Upon attaining his majority he worked for others at his trade for a period. The Revolutionary war, however, break- ing out about this time, he joined a militia company, and afterwards entered the Flying Camp, and went with it to New York. He soon deserted, swam the Hudson, and returned to Chester County, where he was recognized, ar- rested, and lodged in Walnut Street prison in Philadelphia as a deserter. Recruits for the army being much needed, the offer was made to deserters of release and indemnity for the past on condition they would return to the service. Fitzpatrick availed himself of the offer, and again entered the Continental army. He appears to have done so, how- ever, simply for the purpose of regaining his liberty, as in a very short time he again deserted, and reappeared in Chester County. How long he was at liberty after this second desertion we have no means of knowing, but in the summer of 1777, while mowing with others in a field on the property of his former master, John Passmore, in West Marlborough township, he was arrested by two soldiers, who had been sent from Wilmington for that pur- pose, his whereabouts having become known. He was not aware of the presence of the soldiers, and was taken before resistance could be made. He was determined, however, not to again lose his liberty so easily, but being unarmed and in the hands of armed men, it was necessary to resort to strategy to effect his release. His captors, at his request, accompanied him to his mother's, who resided in a tenant- house on Mr. Passmore's property, in order that he might procure some additional clothing. On entering the house Fitzpatrick preceded them, seized his rifle, which stood be- hind the door, turned on his captors and compelled them by his threats to leave him. He is said to have returned to his labor, and to have pursued it as if nothing had taken place to disturb his composure.

Soon after this Gen. Howe landed at the Head of Elk, and was joined by Fitzpatrick, either because he desired to be revenged on the Whigs for having arrested and im- prisoned him for desertion, or because he was at heart a Tory. He was with the British army on its march through Chester County, was present at the battle of Brandywine, and afterwards accompanied the army to Philadelphia, and was doubtless very serviceable to the British commander, from his familiar knowledge of the country through which

they passed. While the army occupied Philadelphia he remained with them, making excursions into his native county from time to time, plundering the Whigs, and car- rying off their horses and other property to Philadelphia. Sometimes he captured the good Whigs themselves and took them within the British lines. In this petty warfare he was assisted by one Mordecai Dougherty, who had been brought up in the family of Nathan Hayes, near Doe Run, and with whom Fitzpatrick had doubtless been acquainted from boyhood.

When the British army evacuated Philadelphia, in the spring of 1778, Fitzpatrick, who was then absent on a ma- randing expedition, stayed behind, and resolved to carry on the war on his own account, making Chester County the theatre of his operations.

His headquarters were for a time at what was then known as Hand's Pass, on the North Valley Hill, a short distance west of the present town of Coatesville, near where the Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike leaves the valley. He also frequented various secluded points along the Brandy- wine, particularly in Newlin and West Bradford townships, one of which was on the high bill on the west side of the creek, near the present Marshall's Station on the Wilming- ton and Reading Railroad.

From these retreats Fitzpatrick, aided by his friend Dougherty, whom he styled his lieutenant, made his depre- dations upon the Whigs, and by a series of the most daring robberies became the terror of the people of the whole county. The Tories-who for the truth of history, it must be confessed, were somewhat numerous in parts of Chester County-were never molested; but the Whigs, and es- pecially the collectors of public moneys, he considered as lawful prey, and he plundered them whenever opportunity offered, often maltreating them in a rude and merciless manner, sometimes tying them and flogging them severely.

He was often pursued and searched for in all his haunts, sometimes by large bodies of men banded together to effect his capture, and ambushed on every side, but he always eluded their vigilance, plundering on one day in one part of the county, and setting the whole neighborhood in com- motion, and appearing the next day in an entirely different section and pursuing the same course, escaping from the fleetest, and disarming and robbing those who were armed for his capture. Many incidents are related of his hair- breadth escapes, and of his reckless daring in presenting himself to those who were seeking for him, walking through companies of men armed for his capture, daunting them by his intrepidity and escaping unharmed. The limits of this sketch, however, will not admit of their minute rela- tion.

He was not, however, a covetous man ; was never known to wrong the weak and helpless, and frequently gave to the poor what he took from the rich. On one occasion, while lurking in the neighborhood of Caln Friends' meeting-house, he fell in with an old woman who followed the business of a trader, on her way to Philadelphia with her little stock of money to purchase goods. She was not acquainted with the person of the robber, and made known to him her ap- prehension that, as Capt. Fitz was in the neighborhood, she might fall into his clutches and be robbed of her money.

# The readers of Bayard Taylor's " Story of Kennett" will remember tbe personages who figure therein under the names of Sandy Flash and Dougherty. These characters appear to be based upon those of two celebrated bandits who flourished in Chester County during the years 1777 and 1778, hearing the names of James Fitzpatrick and Mordecai Dougherty, and who were for a considerable time the terror of the Whig citizens of the county.

549

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

He told her that he was the man she so much dreaded, but that she might dismiss her fears, for he would not wrong a poor and defenseless woman, and presenting her with a quan- tity of gold, wished her a pleasant journey, and left her.

The authorities were not idle while this predatory war- fare was being carried on. On June 6, 1778, Col. Andrew Boyd, lieutenant of the county of Chester, a resident of Sadsbury, wrote from Newlin township to the Council at Philadelphia that Joseph Luckey and Peter Burgandine had been taken out of their houses by Fitzpatrick, Dough- erty, and others; that he had made the most diligent search after these daring marauders and their accomplices, but without success, and that they were secreted and sup- ported with provisions by the inhabitants of Newlin and neighboring townships, who were ill-affected towards the cause of American liberty.

On July 13th the Executive Council, by an order, after reciting that James Fitzpatrick had for some time past in- fested the highway leading from Philadelphia to Lancaster, robbing the people passing thereon, offered a reward of one thousand dollars for his capture.

At length the career of this bold, bad man, who had baffled so long the efforts made to arrest him, was brought to a close. On August 22d he called at the house of Wil- liam McAffee or McFee, situate in Edgmont township, near Crum Creek, and not far from the highway leading from West Chester to Philadelphia, near what is known as Castle Rock, and after making himself known, said he was going about levying contributions from the Whigs, and demanded one hundred and fifty pounds. He ordered the family, consisting of Mr. McAffee and his wife, a son, Capt. Robert McAffee, a woman named Rachel Walker, and a boy, all up-stairs, and proceeded to plunder the house. He had taken from Capt. McAffee a pair of shoes, and laying his sword and pistol on a bed in a room where the family were, raised a foot on the bedstead, in order to put on one of the shoes. Rachel Walker gave a signal to Capt. M&Affee (who was a strong, athletic man) to seize him, and he, contem- plating the same thing, instantly grappled him round the body and arms, and Rachel grasped the pistols (one of which Fitzpatrick had retained in his hand) almost at the same moment, and after an effort secured them. Capt. McAffee succeeded in throwing him down, and his servant, David Cunningham, entering at the moment, ropes were procured and he was securely bound. Cunningham was then sent to inform the Whigs of his capture, and to pro- cure assistance to guard the prisoner. As McAffee's nearest neighbors were mainly inimical to the American cause, the messenger had to go some distance before he could procure the needed aid. During the night a gun was fired at one of the windows,-it was supposed by Dougherty. Search was made, but the villain had fled, leaving a sword which Fitz had formerly taken from an officer. The next morning a guard arrived from the American camp, and the prisoner was conveyed to jail at Chester.

On Sept. 15th he was convicted of burglary and robbery and sentenced to be hung, and the 26th of the same month was fixed upon by the Council as the time for his execution. Before the day arrived he made violent efforts to effect his escape, and very nearly succeeded in doing so, having filed

off his irons and got out of his dungeon. The Council had him removed to Philadelphia for safe-keeping, and while in jail there he broke his handcuffs twice in one night, but being closely guarded, his attempts to escape were frustrated. On the day before his execution he was taken back to the jail at Chester, and executed in pursuance of the warrant.

A dispute afterwards arose with reference to the distri- bution of the reward of one thousand dollars which had been offered by the Executive Council for the capture of Fitzpatrick. The woman, Rachel Walker, claimed the whole of it, alleging that she had first suggested the seizure, and it was claimed by Capt. McAffee, on the ground that the capture was actually made by him ; but the Council, after hearing the parties, deeming their claims both meri- torious, divided the reward equally between them. She, however, availing herself of the favorable impression which her conduct produced, went about the country and received considerable sums of money from the Whigs as a reward for her courage.

About two weeks after the execution of Fitzpatrick, some miscreants maimed the horses and burned the oats and hay- stacks of Wm. McAffee. In a return made by him of property destroyed by the British and their adherents during the Revolutionary war, in pursuance of an act of As- sembly passed in 1783, he sets down his losses as follows :

Oct. 9, 1778, two large stacks of Oats. £100 To a large quantity of hay and other damage to 100

the amount of.

£200

Fitzpatrick is described by tradition as having been an uncommonly fine-looking man, of tall and commanding ap- pearance, very strong and athletic, and swift of foot. His hair was red and his complexion florid. He was un- doubtedly a remarkable man, and possessed abilities which, had he pursued an honorable career, might have won for him a distinguished name in the annals of his country.

After Fitzpatrick met his reward, Mordecai Dougherty, his accomplice, disappeared, and his fate is unknown.

FLEMING, WILLIAM, the earliest member of this family in Chester County, was a native of Greenock, Scot- land. It is related that he had an uncle who, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, sailed a ship from Greenock to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for tobacco and wheat. Once while in port at Greenock he persuaded his nephew, William Fleming, to make a voyage with him to America. He consented, and arriving in the Chesapeake in the har- vest-time, went ashore at the instance of his uncle to help the farmers, as it would be some time before the ship would be ready to make the return voyage. While thus engaged the ship sailed without him, and he then learned that his uncle had bound him as a servant. He took the matter philosophically, served the farmer faithfully for the time agreed upon, and then made his way to the settlements on the Delaware. Here he resided with an Englishman, Richard Moore, in Concord township, (now) Delaware Co., and married Mary, one of his daughters. In 1714 he removed with his family and settled in East Calo town- ship, Chester Co. The family possessions were at first on the east side of the west branch of the Brandywine, at and near the present Coatesville. Here he erected a

550

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

dwelling, about where the rolling-mill of Huston & Pen- rose now stands. The first survey to William Fleming is dated May 29, 1714, and was for 207 acres and allow- ance, and he soon thereafter became the owner of a tract of 400 acres. The family subsequently became the owners of large tracts on the west side of the creek, in Sadsbury and West Caln, and their possessions extended along the valley on each side of the stream for a consider- able distance. William Fleming died before 1733, leaving sons-John, William, Henry, George, James, and Peter- and daughters, Mary, wife of David Cowan, and Susannah, daughter of William Cowan.

George Fleming, one of the sons, became the owner of a tract in West Caln, containing 230 acres, by warrant dated June 14, 1744, and, as recited in a subsequent conveyance, " built and erected a water corn-mill, bolting-mills, mill- house, and other improvements upon the same land." He died unmarried, and the land descended to his nephew James, the eldest son and heir-at-law of his brother John, then also deceased, who was the oldest brother of George. Peter was the youngest son of William Fleming. He and his sons after the Revolution removed to Washington Co., Pa.

James Fleming, son of William Fleming, the emigrant, died May 3, 1767, at the age of sixty-four years, and was buried at Upper Octorara, leaving a son, John Fleming, who was born in 1731. This John Fleming, known in after-life as John Fleming, Sr., resided on a farm a short distance west of Coatesville, where he erected a large stone house, in the gable end of which is a stone bearing his in- itials and date of erection. He was an officer in the prov- incial service, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1776 to frame a constitution for Pennsylvania, and in 1778 one of the Representatives from Chester County in the General Assembly. He was one of the patentees of the land belonging to Octorara Church, of which he was an elder as early as 1762. He died Sept. 2, 1814, at the age of eighty-three, having been a church elder fifty-two years.

John Fleming, Jr., was a son of John Fleming, Sr. He was engaged as a wagon-master in the army during the Rev- olution, and was present at the battle of Brandywine. He became an elder in Upper Octorara Church in 1799, and died in December, 1832. It will be noted that he and his father served as elders in the church at the same time, about fifteen years.

Another son of John Fleming, Sr., was the ancestor of John Fleming, who was for many years an associate judge of Lycoming County, and of Gen. Robert Fleming, of Williamsport, a leading lawyer, who served in the Senate of Pennsylvania and was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1838. Another John Fleming, called, to dis- tinguish him from the others of the same name, " John Fleming of East Caln," died June 16, 1830, at the age of sixty-nine years.

Henry Fleming, Esq., in after-life of West Chester, was a son of John Fleming, Jr., and was born in Sadsbury township. For many years he was acting magistrate, selected by common consent, less for sought-for popularity than for acknowledged private worth, strict integrity, and inflexible character. When a young man he was a volun- teer in the war with England of 1812-14, was made cap-

tain of a company, marched to Canada with Gen. Brown, was captured and taken to Quebec, where he remained a prisoner of war for the period of eighteen months. Re- turning to his home at West Chester, he carried on the business of a currier, taking a lively interest in all local and public affairs. A man of few words, he was a person of much thought; he read the newspapers of the day, and few were more familiar with modern and ancient history, with the high virtues of ancient Greece and Rome, of which he was a student and great admirer, evinced as well by his own stern virtues as in the names of his children, among whom we find a Solon, a Marcellus, a Fabius, and a Lucretia. The inspired songster of Israel was not more devoted to sacred music, a science which he cultivated from youth to age. He was one of the founders of the Presby- terian Church of West Chester, of which he was a pillar, and remained a faithful member until, "like a shock of corn fully ripe, he was gathered into the garner." He died in 1865, at the age of eighty-two years. His wife was Letitia Parke, a daughter of Joseph Parke, Esq., of Sads- bury township. She died Dec. 20, 1858, in the eightieth year of her age.

George Fleming, another son of John Fleming, Jr., re- sided in West Brandywine for many years. He was a much-esteemed elder in the Fairview Presbyterian Church.

The descendants of William Fleming, the original settler, are numerous and widely scattered, but none of them now possess any part of the landed estates of their ancestor.

FLING, DAVID, of East Bradford, weaver, married Abi- gail, widow of Edward Seed, and daughter of Richard (and Alice ?) Buffington. She died in April, and was buried May 1, 1813, in her ninety-second year. The children of David and Abigail were Alice, m. - McNamee, and went to Hagerstown, Md .; John ; Phebe, b. May, 1755, d. June 23, 1748, m. Joseph Baldwin ; Hannah ; David, d. April 5, 1844, in his eighty-second year. The father was living in or near Bradford in 1737. James Fling, a grandson, died near Marshallton, Jan. 30, 1873, and from an obituary notice which soon after appeared we take the following :

He was horn Oct. 24, 1801, and lived with his parents on a farm in East Bradford township, on the Brandy wino, near Seeds' Bridge, dur- ing a period of thirty-five years. When quite a boy he showed strong desires to learn and become a mathematician. He was sent to school in the winter season, helping his father on the farm at other seasons, yet any leisure moments he might have while thus engaged were taken advantage of, and for the time heing his slate and penoil were his only friends. Were these not accessible, he could frequently be found chalk in hand busily engaged in solving some knotty question in al- gebra, the barn-floor being a substitute for the slate, while his team took their noon-rest underneath. Through his powerful and deter- mined efforts, together with the assistance of such teachers as Joseph Strode, Jonathan Gause, and Moses Cheyney, he became one of the best mathematicians in our county. Through the winter, and sometimes in the summer seasons, ho taught school during a period of forty years. In 1836 he and his father moved to a little property about a quarter of a mile south of this village, and made this his home during the remainder of his life. He taught school at one time in Delaware County, at Hockessin, in Delaware State, and in our county in Goshen township, at West Chester, Unionville, Romansville, Locust Grove, and Mar- shallton, in the latter place for nineteen years. As a teacher he pos- sessed rare qualifications; he was hut little known, however, outside of his schools and neighborhood, except as surveyor ; his extreme modesty and simplicity of manners not being calculated to gain the notice and favor of the great mass of mankind, who can appreciate nothing unless the exterior be finely olad and highly polished.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

551

FLOWER, RICHARD, son of Richard and Mary, born, it is supposed, in Leicestershire, England, married Abigail Harlan, 12, 17, 1724-5, daughter of Michael and Dinah Harlan, of Londongrove, where they settled. Richard died about the year 1748, and his widow several years later. Their children were Thomas, b. 10, 27, 1725, d. unmar- ried, 8th mo., 1755 ; Mary, b. 10, 14, 1727, m. Isaac Starr and Samuel Sharp ; Richard, b. 7, 3, 1730, m. 9, 25, 1754, Alice Harlan ; Dinah, b. 10, 27, 1732, d. 11th mo., 1758. Dinah Flower, daughter of Richard and Alice, married Abraham Sharpless.

FORRESTER, RALPH, from Ireland, married Tamer Gregory, daughter of John and Mary Gregory, of Caln township, and lived several years on the farm of John Haines, in what is now West Chester, as mentioned in Jo- seph Townsend's sketch, p. 212. Their children were as follows : Ezekiel, b. 4, 30, 1744, d. 11, 19, 1770 ; Ralph, b. 3, 28, 1746; Margaret, b. 4, 4, 1749; Mary, b. 1, 10, 1752, m. Joseph Hoopes ; Tamer, b. 4, 18, 1754, m. - Brown ; Lydia, b. 2, 10, 1757, m. - Fitzgerald ; Aaron, b. 2, 22, 1759 ; Ruth, b. 8, 5, 1762, m. Israel Hoopes ; John, b. 10, 15, 1764, d. same day. Among the descend- ants are Robert F. Hoopes, of West Chester, and his son, George R., our present sheriff.

FORSYTHE, JOHN, one of the best school-teachers that our county has yet been favored with, was a native of the Emerald Isle, born in 1754, and in 1773, at the age of nineteen years, migrated to the land of Penn. His father, John Forsythe, married Margaret Cox, of an English family, and descended from the Stuarts, by whom he had nine children,-John, Jacob, Alexander, William, Eliza- beth, Jane, Catharine, Sarah, and Margaret.

When the younger John arrived in this Quakerly region he was a gay young Presbyterian, with long sandy hair dressed à la mode, and all his apparel made according to the fashion of the world's people. He had received a good English education, and was, moreover, endowed with a fine musical taste, being an expert performer on the violin. With this seemingly unpropitious outfit for a Quakerly set- tlement (saving and excepting the aforesaid “ good educa- tion"), he soon adopted the views and principles of the So- ciety of Friends, which was probably due to his residence in the family of William Kirk, a worthy member of Nant- meal Meeting. His request to be received as a member was presented to Uwchlan Monthly Meeting 1, 4, 1776, and granted in the following month. Removing the same year to the neighborhood of Birmingham, he transferred his right to this meeting, of which he was ever recognized as an exemplary and valuable member.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 148

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162