History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 78

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 78

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Boyd, of Lancaster, to study physic and sur- gery, to stay two years, for a fee of £70 for instruction." He graduated at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1768. The chil- dren mentioned in his will are Thomas, Edward, Harriett Sarah, married to Alexan- der Mckean ; Mary, married to Hugh Mc- Kean; Hance Gawin, George, John, William and James. None of his descendants are now living in either York or Adams County. In his will among many other bequests, he left to his son, Thomas, a pair of silver- mounted pistols, valued at £10; to his son, Hance, a pair of brass-barreled pistols and holster, valued at £5; one silver mounted sword, valued at £10; one silver medal, valued at 5s; to his son Gawin, a silver snuff box, valued at £2, and to his son George, a long gun valued at £2 10s; George also received a pair of silver buckles appraised at 12s, and John, a silver watch appraised at £5 10s. It would be exceed- ingly interesting to trace the history of these trophies, but of them nothing more . can be authoritatively said, neither is it known where one of them now is. Hance Hamilton was a man of enterprise, great force of character and activity in public affairs. Had he lived during the Revolu- tionary period, he would doubtless have be- come a very conspicuous officer of that event- ful war. He was a typical frontiersman, and located as nearly as can be determined at first in Sir William Keith's tract, called Newberry, and in 1746 became one of the most influential members of the Scotch- Irish settlement on Marsh Creek, near the site of Gettysburg. He was first chosen sheriff of York County, when but twenty - eight years of age, and died suddenly, when but fifty-one. Those twenty-three years were devoted to the care of his family, to the affairs of the community, and to the common dangers of the period. He died as the Rev- olutionary movement was gathering force. Had he lived he would, no doubt, have em- braced the cause with ardor, and spent his strength, and if need be, his life, for the freedom of his country. Among the roll of " the forty-nine officers of Scotland in 1649, was Sir Hance Hamilton, who obtained adju- dicated lands in the Province to the amount of 1,000 acres. From him Col. Hance Ham- ilton of York County doubtless descended."

COL. ROBERT M' PHERSON.

Col. Robert McPherson was the only sou of Robert and Janet McPherson, who settled in the western portion of York County, in in the fall of 1738 on the "Manor of

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Maske." He was born presumably in Ire- land, about 1730, and was a youth of eight years on his parents becoming a part of the well-known Marsh Creek settlement. He was educated at Rev. Dr. Alison's school at New London, Chester Co., Penn., which academy was afterward removed to Newark, Delaware, and became the foundation of the present college at that place. His father died December 25, 1749, and his mother September 23, 1767. In 1751 he married Agnes, the daughter of Robert Miller of the Cumberland Valley. In 1755 he was appointed treasurer of York County, and in 1756 a commissioner of the county. The latter office he resigned on accepting a com- mission as captain in the Third Battalion of the Provincial forces, May 10, 1758, serving under Gen. Forbes on his expedition against Fort Duquesne. From 1762 to 1765 he was sheriff of the county, and from 1764 to the beginning of the Revolution was a justice of the peace under the Proprietary, serving from 1770 as President Justice of the York County Court, and was re-commissioned a justice under the first constitution of the State. From 1765 to 1767 he was a member of the Provincial Assembly, and in 1768 was appointed county treasurer to fill a vacancy. He was a member of the Provincial Confer- ence, which met at Carpenter's Hall, Phila. delphia, June 18, 1778; and was one of the Representatives of York County in 1776, which formed the first constitution of the State of Pennsylvania. At the outset of the war for Independence, he was commissioned a colonel of the York County Battalion of Associators, and during that and the following year he was in active duty in the Jerseys and in the subsequent campaign around Philadelphia. After his return from the field he was em- ployed as the purchasing commissary of army supplies for the western end of York County. In 1779 he was one of the three " auditors of confiscation and fine accounts." From 1781 to 1785 he served as a member of the assembly of the State. Col. McPherson was one of the charter members of the cor- poration of Dickinson College, and continued to act as trustee until his death. He was an elder in the Upper Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church, which was organized in 1740, or within two years of the beginning of the settlement. His death, from paralysis, oc- cured February 19, 1789, his wife surviv- ing him until September 13, 1802. He had a large family. Two of his sons, William and Robert, were officers in the service of the Revolution. Some of his descendants remain in Adams County, but the great majority are

scattered over the various States of the Union. For over thirty years he was one of the most active, influential and conspicuous citizens of York County.

WILLIAM M'PHERSON.

William McPherson, son of Col. Robert, was born December 2, 1757, on the farm set- tled by his grandfather in 1738. He died in Gettysburg, August 2, 1832. He filled sundry public trusts of a local charecter, and was, from 1790 to 1799, a member of the general assembly of the State for York County, ex- cept in 1793. He actively pressed and partic- ipated in the movement for the erection of Adams County, which was accomplished the last year of his public service. During the Revolutionary war, he served as a lieutenant in Capt. Albright's company, Col. Miller's regiment, and was captured in the battle of Long Island. The British held him a pris- oner of war for over a year, during which time he endured many hardships. After the war he became a prosperous and influential citizen in his vicinity. He was twice married, first in 1780 to Mary Garrick, of Frederick County, Maryland, and second in 1793, to Sarah Reynolds of Shippensburg. He was the father of fourteen children, a few of whom were married. One of his sons, John B. McPherson, was a prominent citizen of Adams County, and for forty-five years was cashier of the Bank of Gettysburg. Hon. Edward McPherson, of Gettysburg, for a number of years representative in Congress, Lor nearly a quarter of a century clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and the distinguished American Statistician, is a son of John B. McPherson, and great-grand- son of Col. Robert McPherson of Revolu- tionary fame. His sons are of the sixth gen- eration of McPhersons, who have lived in the same vicinity since the arrival of their worthy ancestors.

ARCHIBALD M'CLEAN

Archibald M'Clean was of Scottish ori- gin. In the year 1715, a portion of the clan M'Clean, or McLean, who were support- ers of the Stuarts, sought a home near Glen- airm, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, and with others soon after emigrated to southern Pennsylvania. Among them was Archibald McClean, who in 1738 located in the Marsh Creek district of York County, near what is now Gettysburg. He soon became a promi- nent surveyor in the Province of Pennsylva- nia, assisted in establishing the "Middle Point" between Cape Henlopen and the Chesapeake, and in locating the great "Tan-

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gent Line" through the Peninsula, and in tracing the well known " arc of the circle" around New Castle, Delaware. This was during the years 1760, 1762 and 1763. As a surveyor he was the chief associate of the celebrated mathematicians, Mason and Dixon. In running the famous line which bears their name, six of his brothers were also em- ployed in assisting to establish the line from 1763 to June 4, 1766, when the party arrived as far west as the summit of "Little Allegha- ny," and were there stopped by troublesome Indians. On June 8, 1767, Mason and Dixon and Archibald M'Clean began to continue the survey from the top of the "Little Alle- ghany, accompanied by a delegation of friendly Indians as an escort, against the savages. On the 14th of June they reached the top of the "Great Alleghany," where four- teen more friendly Indians joined them as interpreters. At this time there were thirty assistant surveyors, fifteen ax-men, and a number of Indians. They continued west- ward 240 miles from Delaware to "Dunker Creek," as marked on their map. This was thirty-six miles east of the western limit of the present Mason and Dixon line. The balance was run in 1782 and 1784. Archi- bald M'Clean in 1776 was chosen a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. He was an ardent patriot, and the next year became chairman of the Committee of Safe- ty for York County, during the Revolution. He served as prothonotary and register and recorder of York County from 1777 to 1786. At his death his remains were interred in the historic old Marsh Creek burying ground, on a part of what is now the famous battle-field of Gettysburg.

GEN. HENRY MILLER.

Gen. Henry Miller was born near the city of Lancaster, Penn., on February 13, 1751. Early attention was paid to his education, but his father, who was a farmer, thought it necessary to place his son within the walls of a university. The high school of Miller, as of Washington and Franklin, was the world of active life.

Young Miller, having received a good English education, was placed in the office of Collison Reed, Esq., of Reading, Penn., where he read law and studied conveyancing. Before, however, he completed his studies, he removed to Yorktown, in about the year 1760. At this place he pursued his studies under the direction of Samuel Johnson, Esq. At that time Mr. Johnson was prothonotary of York County and in his office Mr. Miller acted as clerk.

The subject of our memoir was married on June 26, 1770, about which time he pur- chased a house in Yorktown, and furnished it. Here he supported his family mostly by the profits arising from conveyancing, and from his clerkship; for as he found that he did not possess talents for public speaking, he devoted his industry and attention to those subjects.

The war of the Revolution was now ap- proaching, and young Miller's noble soul was kindled to a generous indignation as he heard and read of the wrongs of his country, A man like him could not doubt a moment. On June 1, 1775, he commenced his march from York to Cambridge, Mass. He went out as first lieutenant of a rifle company under the command of Capt. Michael Doudel. This company was the first that marched out of Pennsylvania, and was, too, the first that arrived in Massachusetts from any place south of Long Island, or west of the Hudson. The company to which he belonged was attached to Col. Thompson's rifle regiment, which received the first commissions issued by congress, and took rank of every other regiment.

On the arrival of the company at Cam- bridge, the gallantry and zeal of Miller prompted him to attempt some military act before the remainder of the regiment could arrive. His active mind immediately formed a plan to surprise the British guard at Bun- ker's Hill. This was the second day after his arrival, fresh from a march of 500 miles, a march which would have deprived ordinary men of their fire of feeling, but which left Miller in the glowing enthus- iasm of a young soldier, impatient of delay. Miller submitted the plan to his captain, whose courage was more tempered with pru- dence and who wished to decline engaging in such an attack, alleging, as reasons against it, the small number of his own men and his want of acquaintance with the ground and works. But Miller, who was never checked in his military career by the appearance of danger, informing his captain that if he should decline engaging personally in the attack, he would solicit Gen. Washington to appoint him (Miller) to the command. Thus urged, the captain allowed his laudable prudence to be overcome by the ardor of his gallant young lieutenant, and his own desire to effect the capture of the guard. The at- tempt was made-but, as the captain had predicted, without accomplishing the object. They were obliged to retreat-though not till after several British soldiers had bit the dust, and several others were prisoners in the

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hands of the gallant Yorkers. Captain Doudel's health being very much impaired, he was obliged to rssign not long afterward when Miller was appointed to the command of the company. From that time onward he was distinguished as a most enterprising, intelligent and valuable officer.

In 1776, his company with the regiment to which he belonged, commanded at first by Col. Thompson,, and afterward by Col. Hand, marched to New York. In 1777, on the 12th of November, he was promoted by congress to the office of Major in the same regiment. In the year following (1778) he was appoint- ed lieutenant-colonel, commandant in the Second Regiment of Pennsylvania. In this latter office he continued until he left the army.

Miller was engaged, and took an active and gallant part, in the several battles of Long Island, York Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Head of Elk, Brandy- wine, Germantown, Monmouth, and in a con- siderable number of other but less important conflicts. At the battle of Monmouth, he displayed most signal bravery. Two horses were, during that conflict, successively shot from beneath this youthful hero and patriot: but nothing depressed the vigor of his soul, for mounting a third he was in the thick of battle.

A companion in arms, writing of Miller, in the year 1801, says, "He was engaged in most of the battles of note in the middle States. It would take much time to enumer- ate the many engagements he was into, as the general engagements, as such, as are inci- dent to light corps. It may, with confidence, be stated, that he must have risked his person in fifty or sixty conflicts with the British foe. He served with the highest reputation as an heroic, intelligent and useful officer." In a letter of Washington to Congress dated "Trenton Falls, December 12, 1776," are these words: "Capt. Miller, of Col. Hand's regiment, also informs me, that a body of the enemy were marching to Burlington yesterday morn- ing. He had been sent over with a strong scouting party, and, at daybreak, fell in with their advance guards consisting of about four hundred Hessian troops, who fired upou him before they were discovered, but without any loss, and obliged him to retreat with his party and to take boat." Gen. Wilkinson, in his memoirs, states that Major Miller of Hand's riflemen, was ordered by Gen. Wash- ington to check the rapid movements of the enemy in pursuit of the American Army, while retreating across the State of New Jer- sey. The order was so successfully executed,

and the advance of a powerful enemy so embarrassed, that the American troops which afterward gained the independence of their country, were preserved from an overthrow which would have proved the grave of our liberties. In a note to the memoirs, the author says, among other things, "Gen. Miller, late of Baltimore, was distinguished for his cool bravery wherever he served. He certainly possessed the entire confidence of Gen. Washington." To multiply quotations would be useless, suffice to say that Miller is mentioned by many of the American histor- ians, and always with much applause.

When Miller first engaged in the war of the Revolution, he had little or no other fortune than his dwelling-house. But before the close of the war he was reduced to such necessities to support his family that he was compelled to sell the house over the heads of his wife and children. He sometimes spoke of this as a very hard case, and in terms so pathetic as to excite the most tender emo- tions. At other times he would say, "I have not yet done all in my power to serve my be- loved country, my wife and my children I trust will yet see better days."

In his pleasant manner he was heard to say that, as to the house, the sale had at least saved him the payment of the taxes. Col. Miller being thus, through his patriotism, humiliatingly reduced in pecuniary circum- stances, was obliged in the spring of 1779 to resign his commission in the army and return to York. Here he continued to reside for some years, enjoying the love and affection of all his fellow citizens. In October, 1780, he was elected high sheriff of the county of York, and as such be continued until the ex- piration of his term of office in November, 1783. At the several elections in October of the years 1783-84-85, he was elected a member of the Legislature of Pennsylva- nia. In May, 1786, he was commissioned as prothonotary of York County, and in August of the same year he was appointed a justice of the peace, and of the court of Common Pleas. In the year 1790 he was a member of the convention which framed the present constitution of the commonwealth of Penn- sylvania. He continued in the office of pro- thonotary until July, 1794. In this year (1794), great dangers were apprehended from the encroachments of the English on our western territories. Wayne was, at that time, carrying our arms against the Indians into the western wilderness. Agreeably to the requisition of the president of the United States, contained in a letter to the secretary of war, dated May 19, 1794, Pennsylva-

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nia was required to furnish her quota of brigades toward forming a detachment of 10,769 militia. officers included. At this time Miller was general in the first brigade, composed of the counties of York and Lan- caster, and belonging to the second division of Pennsylvania Militia commanded by Maj .- Gen. Hand. This division, with several oth- ers, was required to be in readiness to march at a moment's warning.

In the same year was the " western expe- dition," an expedition occasioned by an in- surrection in the four western counties to re- sist the laws of the Union.

At this time Gen. Miller was appointed, and went out as quartermaster-general. In the same year he was appointed, by Gen. Washington, supervisor of the revenue for the district of Pennsylvania. In this office he acted with such ability, punctuality and integrity, that no one ever laid the least failure to his charge. But in 1801, Mr. Jef- ferson having been elected President, Gen. Miller was removed from the office of super- visor and was succeeded by Peter Muhlen- burg.

Upon this event he left York Nov- ember 18, 1801, and removed to Balti- more, where he resided for some years as an honest and respectable merchant. At the commencement of the war of 1812, his soul was kindled to the former fires of youthful feeling. Relinquishing his mercantile pur- suits he accepted the appointment of brig- ader general of the militia of the United States, stationed at Baltimore, and charged with the defense of Fort McHenry and its dependencies. Upon the enemy's leaving the Chesapeake bay, the troops were dis- charged and Gen. Miller again retired to private life.

In the spring of 1813, Gen. Miller left Baltimore, and returned to his native State, Pennsylvania. He now resided on a farm at the mouth of the Juniata river, in Cumber- land County, devoting himself, with Roman virtue, to agricultural pursuits. But his country soon called him from his retirement. The enemy having again made their appear- ance from Baltimore, he marched out with the Pennsylvania troops in the capacity of quartermaster-general. He again, after a short time, returned to Pennsylvania, to re- side on his farm at the mouth of the Juniata. At that place, like a Cincinnatus, away from the tumult of war, he continued to reside until the spring of 1821. At that time, be- ing appointed prothonotary of Perry County, by Gov. Hiester, he removed to Landisburg, the seat of justice for that county. He con-

tinued to live at Landisburg, until he was removed from office, by Gov. Shulze, in March, 1824. On the 29th of the same month, the Legislature of Pennsylvania be- gan to make, though at a late period, some compensation for his important Revolutionary services. They required the state treasurer to pay him $240 immediately; and an an- nuity of the same sum during the remainder ofhis life. But Gen. Miller did not live long enough to enjoy this righteous provision. He removed with his family to Carlisle; but he had hardly fixed his abode there, and caught the kind looks of his relatives and friends. when he was called by the messenger of peace to a distant and far brighter region where the music of war is unheard, and the storms of contention are at rest. He was siezed with an inflammation of the bowels and died suddenly, in the bosom of his fam- ily, on Monday, the 5th of April, 1824. On Tuesday afternoon, the mortal part of the hero and the patriot was consigned, with military honors, to the small and narrow house.

In private life Gen. Miller was friendly, social and benovelent. He was generous even to a fault.

In public life, he had, what Lord Claren- don says of Hampden, a head to contrive, a heart to persuade, and a hand to execute.

CAPT. JACOB DRITT.

Jacob Dritt, of York County, was a mili- tary officer in our Revolutionary strug- gle, being a captain in Col. Swope's Battal- ion of the Pennsylvania Flying Camp. He was made prisoner at the taking of Fort Washington, and underwent a long cap- tivity. When the lines of our army were attacked by the enemy, previous to the cap- ture of the fort, Capt. Dritt, with a party of men chiefly of his own company, was ordered in advance to oppose the landing of the British, who came in boats across Harlem Creek, below King's Bridge. He defended his position with great bravery, until having lost a number of his men, and being nearly surrounded with the Hessian riflemen on one side, and the British troops on the other, he retreated into the fort with difficulty and was there captured.

Gen. Jacob Dritt was drowned in the Sus- quehanna, in the year 1818, between Christ- mas and New Year. He had crossed the river in the early morning with a young man named Griffith, had been to the Marietta bank and obtained a sum of money. It was estimated by some at $500. Upon his return to the ferry, on the Lancaster County side,

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he was admonished by his son, who lived there, not to venture as the river was then very dangerous to cross, on account of the rapid current and the floating ice. He was naturally a bold, and brave individual, hav- ing frequently, on former occasions, faced many dangers; venturing upon the surging waters, some place near the middle of the stream his boat was capsized by coming sud- denly in contact with a huge cake of ice. He and his comrade both lost their lives. This occurred about 3 o'clock in the after- noon. Many fruitless efforts were made by friends and neighbors to find the remains of the old hero and his companion, but all in vain. Over three months after the drown- ing, on a pleasant day in April, while some slaves were working on a plantation, along the eastern shore of Maryland, all that re- mained of the gallant old Revolutionary hero was found by them in a secluded spot on the shore. The astonished and frightened negroes conveyed the singular intelligence to their master, who had the remains interred near the spot where they were found. The only marks of identification were a pair of silver sleeve-buttons and his boots, which were recognized by some of the members of his family. The death occurred at a time when it was not so customary to disinter and remove the remains of the dead, so they were left to sleep on what afterward became hal- lowed soil in our sister State. The body of Griffith was also found about the same time.

Jacob Dritt, one of Gen. Dritt's sons, afterward moved to York and became a suc- cessful merchant, and built the large house a few doors east of the National hotel. Miss Kitty Dritt, of Lower Windsor, is the only surviving member of the Dritt family.

FRANCIS WORLEY.

Francis Worley, an intelligent English land surveyor, who in 1722, was one of the three persons sent across the Susquehanna by Gov. Keith, to survey Springettsbury Manor. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, but some of his descendants became Quakers. He removed from Lancaster County in 1742, and purchased 750 acres of land about one mile northwest of York. His sons were Nathan, James, Jacob, Francis, Daniel and George. Francis married Ruth Collins, a Quakeress of Chester County, and adopted her faith. He lived in the building, now the Eyster House, on West Market Street, York. James Worley, on the death of his father, succeeded to a part of the paternal estate, a part of which is now owned by Jacob Loucks, of West Manchester. In his house, which

was not a tavern, as has been published, the doctrines of Methodism were first preached in York County. Francis Worley died be- fore a permanent organization of the Epis- copal Church had been established in York. His remains are supposed to lie in the old graveyard near where he lived. His great- grandson, George Worley, lives retired in West York.

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 78

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104