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APPENDIX
Exact knowledge in genealogy is seldom easy to obtain. Many things have been set down by hurried writers as facts which may not be definitely traced historically. There is a law of tradition, however, which must be recognized. “Where a long tradition states a fact and there is no evidence to the contrary the probabilities are in favor of the tradition having foundation in truth.” Instances of this kind of evidence are not wanting in the Ewing history. There seems to be little doubt that James Ewing, who was born at Glasgow in 1650, was the father of Findley Ewing, who, under the common religious persecution of the time, went to Londonderry, Ireland, in 1696. About 1694 he married Jane Porter. No one has yet been able to identify historically the family of either Findley or Thomas Ewing of Londonderry (the latter coming from there to New Jersey in 1718) with the Ewings who emigrated from the same place and at near the same time to East Nottingham Township, Cecil County, Maryland; or to connect these positively with any of the other Ewings known to have come to America during the first half of the nineteenth century. But there are the strongest traditional evidences that these families were one and the same before separating in Ireland. A few points may help us to settle this, viz.: The four brothers who settled in Maryland about the year 1700 left several younger brothers at home. Thomas was a younger brother, perhaps, being but five years old in 1700. Thomas arrived in 1718, accompanied by two brothers. The three at first settled on Long Island. Accompanying some New England whale fishers, who made a trip to Delaware Bay, Thomas settled at Greenwich, New Jersey. The two brothers went “to the South.” Maryland was considered South at that time, quite far south of Long Island. And the two brothers would naturally seek out their four brothers who had preceded them.
Again, the Ewings descended from the Maryland branch claim lineal connection with Findley Ewing, whose deed of valor at the Battle of the Boyne won him the sword from the King. Moreover, the coat of arms (Note 2) of the Nottingham Ewings and that of Maskell Ewing, of Greenwich New Jersey, are the same and of Scottish form. They are also the same as a coat of arms now preserved in a cathedral at Glasgow, where James Ewing lived in 1650. Speaking of this same matter, James L. Ewin, Esq., of Washington, D.C., writes: “I still agree with Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in his view that we spring from a common ancestry. Even if we have to go back to David Ewing, of Cavan, planting live oak trees in Donegal, we are all somewhat distantly related.” And said the late Judge Ewing, of Pittsburg, writing in 1897: “I have little doubt that the elder Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, my grandfather, Thomas Ewing, and Judge Nathaniel Ewing, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and his brother John H. Ewing, of Washington, Pennsylvania, were each direct descendants of the James Ewing, of Glasgow, whose son, Findley removed to Londonderry about 1690.”
Again, Rev. Thompson R. Ewing, D.D., writes: “The Fayette County Ewings are a family of Judges. Nathaniel, Sr., told me he had studied records sufficiently to be assured that our families are of the same stock (T. R. Ewing being a great-grandson of William Ewing, of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, page 47). His son, Hon. John K. Ewing, is also a Judge, and so is Nathaniel, Jr., son of John K. Ewing, a Judge. Old Nathaniel was a brother of John H. Ewing, of Washington, Pennsylvania. The latter was a member of Congress. It was in his home that James G. Blaine was partially reared. His wife was a cousin of Mr. Blaine.” These Ewings count kindred with the Ohio Ewings into which the family of William T. Sherman married” (page 18).
William A. Ewing, of the Soldiers’ Home, Dayton, Ohio, writes: “Samuel Ewing lived eleven miles south of Pittsburg as early as 1770. He had six sons, James, Hugh, John, Samuel, Andrew, Daniel and a daughter Elizabeth. Hugh, John and Andrew moved to the vicinity of Elder’s Ridge, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Nathaniel Ewing, who was born in 1693, who was a half-brother of John, Henry, Samuel, Joshua and Alexander, came to Cecil County, Maryland, from Coleraine, Londonderry County, Ireland. They were sons of William Ewing, who was a son of a William Ewing, of Glasgow, Scotland.”
James L. Ewin, Esq., above referred to, is a descendant of Thomas Ewing, of County Donegal, Ireland, a brother of Findley Ewing, of Londonderry. The Ewins came to this country early in the nineteenth century and settled in Maryland. The “g” was dropped from the name before its bearer came to this country. A letter written to James L. Ewin, Esq., by David Ewing, of Crossely, Ireland, in 1895, states: “All the Ewings in this part of Tyrone, of that I know of, are descended from one stock and came from Scotland about the time of the Ulster Plantation (about 1688). My great-grandfather, who lived at Gortmeron, had a brother living at Learny whose one or two sons went to America about 1700. There are a good many of the name at present in this country and some in America. Almost all are of the respectable farmer class and all Presbyterians.”
Early Records
Among the papers at the Court House in Lifford, the assize town of County Donegal, Ireland, is one showing that in 1603 a license was issued to David Ewing, of Cavan, giving him liberty to plant trees. He was evidently one of the first of the name to come over from Scotland to Ireland. There is mention of one Humphrey Ewing, who resided at Londonderry at a very early date.
Other Ewings
There is a record of a “Ewing Settlement” at Hopewell, New Jersey, about the year 1700. Here lived James Ewing, where he reared a large family. His son William removed in 1722 to what is now Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He and his son-in-law, Robert McClelland, founded and built the Middletown Presbyterian Church, it being the third Presbyterian Church in the State of Pennsylvania. There was a William Ewing lived in the “back settlements” (Eastern Pennsylvania or Maryland). About 1700 he fled from the Indians, crossing the Susquehanna River at McCall’s Ferry. A General, James Ewing, an “intimate friend of General George Washington,” lived at Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, in Revolutionary times. Robert Ewing was for a time the Clerk of Court in Bedford County, Virginia. He was the father of the noted Finis Ewing, one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Finis Ewing lived in Logan County, Kentucky, and later at Jefferson City, Missouri.
One Pennsylvania branch of the family migrated to South Carolina, thence to Kentucky, and thence to Illinois, where a large connection of the name now live. To this branch the late Vice President Adlai Ewing Stevenson belonged.
Lillian S. Evans, of Columbia, Pennsylvania, writes that Thomas Ewing settled in Donegal, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, between 1730 and 1740, and married Susan Howard.
Quincy Ewing, an Episcopal rector at Birmingham, Alabama, wrote me in 1906: “I am a native of Louisiana. My grandfather, Ephraim Ewing, was a nephew of Finis Ewing, one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. I saw a letter years ago from General Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, in which he stated that he and my grandfather were distantly connected. Most of the members of my branch of the family are lawyers. Some years ago an old gentleman said to me in Ohio: ‘Where did you come from? All the Ewings I have ever known have been Roman Catholics.’”
From the family of Ewings which settled in Maryland there came a numerous progeny which scattered in many directions. A notable off-shoot of this family was the Rev. John Ewing, D.D., who for forty-five years beginning with 1758, was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia and active in founding the University of Pennsylvania. He was the father of a very large family. Other sprouts from the great trunk in Maryland found their way to Allegheny, Beaver, Fayette, Washington and Indiana Counties, Pennsylvania. A reunion of Ewings numbering many hundreds is an annual event in a country section just south of Pittsburg these past years.
Letitia McCurdy Ewing, wife of Samuel Ewing, of the Maryland branch, after rearing a large family of children, living in widowhood more than sixty years, died at Olivet, Pennsylvania, in 1860, at the ripe age of 107 years.
Rev. John Ewing, D.D., who preached for many years at Daretown, New Jersey, was born at Fort Pitt Station, near Pittsburg. He was a direct connection of the Maryland Ewings. His niece, who was his housekeeper for a time at Daretown, married Lawrence Isaacs, of Collingswood, New Jersey.
James Ewing, who was born in Nottingham Township, Maryland, in 1730, settled at Walker’s Mills, Pennsylvania, near Carnegie, in 1770. He was a miller and became the owner of large tracks of land. He was the principal founder of the Montour Presbyterian Church.
John C. Ewing, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is of the Maryland branch of the Ewing family.
William Ewing settled in Cape May County, New Jersey, as early as 1779. Many of his descendants live in the region of Cape May to-day. A William Ewing and others of the name settled in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in 1761.
There were many Ewings in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The writer recently saw many pages of records of property transfers in the County Recorder’s office at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, made by Ewings. Some of these date back to early in the nineteenth century.
Joshua Ewing, of Scottish extraction, and whose antecedents came to this country near the close of the 18th century, settled first in Massachusetts and later lived in Pennsylvania. He removed to Tennessee, where he married a woman from Pennsylvania. They reared a large family. The youngest was a physician. When traveling in Virginia he saw a good-looking mulatto of Indian and colored American extraction, being sold or traded as merchandise for a Louisiana slave market. He was moved with deep sympathy, put a price up for the girl, bought her and took her home as a present for his mother in Lincoln County, Tennessee. The girl was born about the year 1839. Though certainly not the wife of Dr. James Ewing, she became the mother of John W. Ewing, now in the service of the Government at Washington. Thus began the “Anglo-African” branch of the Ewing family.
Dr. Almon R. Ewing, of Ohio, writes that his great-grandfather came to this country in 1750 from Cork, Ireland, and settled in Vermont. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. Dr. Ewing states that two brothers of his great-grandfather came to this country about the middle of the 18th century, that one of them settled in Philadelphia and the other one further south. He states that many of his descendants are in Ontario, Canada. There is a tradition that the great-grandfather above named was Alexander Ewing, a brother of William, settled in Franklin County, Pennsylvania (page 47). One of the Ewings of this branch married J. E. Solomon, of Ontario, Canada. From these sprang a numerous progeny.
The late Judge Thomas Ewing, of Pittsburg, writes: “My grandfather, Thomas Ewing, was born in 1773 in County Donegal, six miles from Londonderry, Ireland. He came to this country and settled in Adams County, Pennsylvania. He there joined a volunteer company, which came to Pittsburg at the call of President Washington to quell the Whisky Insurrection. He remained in Western Pennsylvania and married Esther McNary, of Washington County. My father, Samuel Ewing, was born in 1796, and married Jane Lyle, of Washington County, Pa. I am the only surviving son of my parents.” Thomas Ewing died in 1897.
William A. Ewing of the National Soldiers’ Home in Ohio, was born at Cincinnati, May 15, 1838. His father, Alexander, was born February 10, 1803, at Monroe, Michigan. His grandfather, Alexander Ewing, settled on Yellow Breeches Creek, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1769. He traces his ancestry direct to Glasgow, Scotland. Up until ten years ago he labored very diligently along genealogical lines and accumulated a great wealth of material. He published a very elaborate chart in blue print, containing three great family branches of Ewings, and distributed many copies of it in and around Philadelphia among the descendants of the Rev. John Ewing, D.D.
1. History of the Name of “Ewing” (Furnished by James L. Ewin, of Washington, D.C.)
Ang. Sax. ju, O. H. G. ewa “law” 1.
(Hari, warrior), O. G. Euhar, Eng. Ewer. (Man, vir),--Eng. Yeoman Yeaman. (Ric, rule) O. G. Eoricus, Eng. Yorick, (Wald, rule), O. G. Ewald—Eng. Ewald. (Ward, guardian), O. G. Euvart—Eng. Ewart, Yeoward. (Wolf), O. G. Eolf—Eng. Yealfe.
Hence probably the name of the Eows, a tribe or family mentioned in the “Traveller’s Song,” Also probably the name Eawa, in the genealogy of the Mercian Kings (which began 584 A.D.) The stem is represented in our names by Ewe, yeo and yea, and we have also the patronymic Ewing. (Euing in Domesday.)
Surnames as a science, Ferguson, p. 68. (Routledge, London and New York, 1883.)
--ing
Ing, inge, or inger—is found in the sense of progeny or “offspring,” in most of the Teutonic languages. Ing, in modern German, is a young man, but in a more extended sense signifies a descendant. Wachter derives it from the British (?) engi—to produce, to bring forth. Lower’s Essays on English Surnames, 3rd edition, Vol. 1, p.23. (London, 1849)
2. History of the Name “Ewing” (Furnished by Rev. John G. Ewing, San Juan Puerto Rico.)
The name was originally McEWEN, and originated about 1400 in Argylshire, in Cowal. The clan EWEN was an offshoot, a younger branch of the Clan Lamont, and first, about 1400, took the distinctive name McEwen. Broken in the contests of the Highlands, the Clan was dispersed and its organization lost. The members of the Clan about 1500-1600 took refuge in the adjacent lowlands of the Lennox, which includes Dumbarton and the greater part of Stirling. Here many lost the Mc, and others Anglicized the EWEN to EWING.
Coat of Arms—In the Middle Ages it was customary to have embroidered on the surcoat or outer garment any kind of heraldic device which would proclaim the family or class to which the wearer belonged. (Page 88.) [Click here to return to this note's citation.]
Count it only a coincidence, but preserve it as a curiosity to hand down, that there have come into the family by marriage in recent years the Hebrew names (but not the blood or the faith) of Isaacs—Lawrence Isaacs, of Collingswood, New Jersey; Benjamin ( ) Benjamin, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Solomon, J. E. Solomon, of Toronto, Canada. These men married Ewing women.
Although not so generally known, a tea burning took place at Greenwich, New Jersey, which was quite as significant in its relation to the Revolutionary troubles with the mother country as was the famous Boston “Tea Party” of November 16, 1773. Failing to land their tea at Boston, the East Indian Company attempted to enter a cargo at Greenwich on the Cohansey. The load was quickly discharged and hurried to a cellar some distance from the landing. The news of the event aroused the patriotic spirit of the neighborhood. A group of men, disguised as Indians, gathered after nightfall, seized the chests of tea, carried them to a near-by field, and burned them. This bold act was performed on Thursday night, November 22, 1774, just a year after the like feat at Boston. It is not known how many men made up the company of determined patriots. It is certain that there were fifteen or more. Among these were Dr. Ebenezer Elmer, afterward a member of Congress; Richard Howell, who was later a Major in the army and Governor of New Jersey; Revs. Andrew Hunter and Philip Fifthian; Dr. Thomas Ewing and his uncle, James Ewing (elsewhere referred to in this volume). This bold act of these young men caused much excitement, especially among those who were secretly in sympathy with the British interests. Half a dozen lawsuits were brought. Eminent counsel was employed on both sides. The smoldering fires of Revolution were becoming hotter with each passing day. Hostilities were breaking out in many quarters. All local suits were soon dropped, and to this day the deed of the Tea Burners is held up as one of the shining marks of early patriotism. Three-fourths of the Revolutionary Fathers were trained in the school of Calvin. An equal proportion of the Tea Burners were of like faith.
In recent years the question of erecting some suitable memorial to the Tea Burning incident was agitated. It was the writer’s privilege to have a small part in the beginning of this agitation. Public-spirited men and women became interested. County and State authorities took hold. A fund of about $2000 was raised, and, amid a great demonstration, participated in by as many as eight thousand people, a monument of enduring granite erected in honor of the patriots who burned the tea in 1774 was unveiled and solemnly dedicated on the spot where the tea was destroyed. The unveiling took place on the 30th of September, 1909.
“A Chronicle of the Bard Family,” by G. O. Seilhamer, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, contains the following: “Mary Cochran was the daughter of John Cochran, of Waynesboro, and was born in 1769. She was married to William Findley, a native of Ireland, who died in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1821. He emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1763 and settled near Waynesboro, where he was a school master for a number of years. At the outbreak of the Revolution he became a member of the Cumberland County Committee of Observation, but declined election to the Pennsylvania Convention in 1776. He consented, however, to serve on the County Board of Assessors, and helped to levy the first taxes under the Constitution of 1776. He was Captain of a company of the Eighth Battalion Cumberland County Associators, 1777-80, and was in command of a marching company in active service in 1778. After the Revolution he removed to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He settled at or near what is now Youngstown, a few miles from Latrobe. He owned the land where the town of Latrobe is now built. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the Federal Constitution of 1787. He was also a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania; of the Convention that framed the State Constitution of 1790, and of the Pennsylvania Legislature. He was a Representative in Congress from 1791 to 1817, and was the first Congressman to earn the affection appellation of “Father of the House.” In politics he was a Jefferson Republican. He published a “Review of the Funding System” in 1794 and a “History of the Whisky Insurrection” in 1796.
The Biographical Congressional Dictionary, published by the United States Government in 1904, has this record: “William Findley was born in Ireland on January 11, 1751, received a Parish School education, came to the United States and located at Philadelphia; served in the Revolutionary War; moved to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; member of the State Legislature and delegate to the State Constitutional Convention; elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses as a Democrat; died near Greensburg, Pa., April 5, 1821; published a “Review of the Funding System” (1794), a “History of the Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania” (1796), and several political pamphlets.”
The writer has examined recently William Findley’s “Observations on the Sons of Oil.” As declared in the title of the book, it is “A Vindication of the American Constitution and a Defense of the Blessings of Religious Liberty against the Illiberal Strictures of the Rev. Samuel B. Wylie.” Mr. Wylie, in his “Sons of Oil,” gave—as Mr. Findley claimed—a most fanciful and heretical interpretation of Zachariah 4:14. His “Observations” is a work of three hundred and sixty-six pages, admirably logical, soundly Scriptural and did much to settle the strained issues between Church and State at the time of its circulation. It also laid the foundations in the minds of many on which ultimately rested the successful uprising against slavery. The book was given to the public in 1812.
William Findley was a weaver by trade. It was this that gave him the nickname of “Old Treadles,” when he became entangled in his first political difficulties. He was always deeply religious. From childhood he was an earnest student of the Scriptures; and being a man keen to observe the highest needs of his adopted country he was very prominent in the Conference which brought to this country a supply of Presbyterian ministers from Scotland. He was likewise prominent on the committee which took the preliminary steps toward National Independence. He gave much attention to the Slavery Question. Though urged by friends to remove from his adopted section in Southern Pennsylvania to North Carolina, his aversion to slavery as a system kept him out of the Southland. Said he: “I will here hold my own plow and hoe my own corn and reap my own grain in Pennsylvania, rather than raise a family where slavery prevails.” He had no slaves and contributed in every possible way to the abolition of the system. “But,” said he, “I do not think of consigning those patriots who have slaves nor the Apostles who acknowledged the relation of master and slave and prescribed their relative duties, to the Devil.” While engaged as a school teacher, and before he had a house of his own, he was able to make a thorough study of slavery by boarding in many different families. Always soundly religious and with the most positive convictions in regard to public questions and policies, he found many people whose personal interests were affected by his policies his bitter enemies. An instance of such enmity was the incendiary burning of a valuable flouring mill property he had established at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, shortly after settling in Western Pennsylvania. That he had accumulated considerable property is evidenced by the fact that he was able to rebuild the mill in a short time, and, in fact, that he had acquired large land holdings in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. Note 11, Part I.) Briefly, his children were David and John, who settled in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The latter was an eminent Judge. Both sons reared large families and their descendants throng Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere to-day. Martha married John Junkin, her own cousin. Mary married John Black, Elizabeth married Thomas Patterson and Eleanor married Richard Ewing Caruthers. (Page 30.)
William Findley was a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian church of Unity, near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and took a lively interest in the benevolent operations of the church at large. Three years before his death he wrote; “The greatest comfort I now enjoy of things in this world arises from the extraordinary progress of the translation of the Bible and the success of missionaries. I flatter myself with the hope that before another generation lives as long as I have done the now heathen world will be generally Christian, and those who now bear that name be reformed. But how light will ever penetrate long darkened Africa I cannot even guess.” His death was due to tuberculosis. During the six years of his affliction he was wonderfully upheld, and during the last trying days of his life he listened eagerly to the truths of the Bible, and though compelled to speak in tones almost unintelligible, he to the last kept commending Jesus to all who were about him.
The following letters (copied from their originals in possession of Mrs. James Henry Ewing, of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania), are here entered for preservation on account of their great age and because of their simple expression of trust in God. The second one is particularly suggestive in showing how a man of affairs, identified with the greatest interests of State and Nation, may yet be a strong man of God. The letters were written while Mr. Findley was in Congress.
The first one bears address as follows: “William Findley, Esq., Member of Congress, Philadelphia. Free.” The letter is as follows:
February the 20th 1796
My Dear
I last night received your mournful letter and desired to write but not being able I have little time now only to let you know that the children are well Johnny is over at ----- now and we have nobody but the little boys to do anything and you may know there is little work going on. I have not been at the barn since my little billy took sick nor it is any trouble to me how things are, for I think I will soon leave them. I long for your coming home for time goes very heavy past with me. If it was not that Mrs. McNight is here sometimes I would be worse off. As I have wrote to you before I need not enter upon anything about our dear little billy. For I could do nothing else if I had an opportunity. But time will not admit me to say anything. Mrs. Smith’s little billy was badly scalded last week but the danger is now over. Mrs. Bole wishes you to send her eleven or twelve yards for her and nancy if convenient. Hers dark and nancy’s middling light. Mrs. Little wishes you to send her a quarter pound of bark for jenny. Mrs. b---- wishes one of fisher’s Catticismes; and I do not know what more. If you are sending you may send plenty of callico, for I do not know what I sent for and some black handkerchiefs for the children’s company coming in. I must have dun for this time wishing you you may be supported to bear this and every tryal that may come your way and that we may see that all things work together for good to them that love God and that we may be of that happy number. It is what we ought to pray for whilst I remain your loving, but I may say broken hearted.
(signed) Mary Findley
Mr. William Findley,
Mrs. Mc-----boys are uneasy about those books you were to send them.
The second letter:
June 16th, 1797.
My Dearest
I was in great hopes always to hear of your being better, and am very sorry to find by the last letter that it is otherwise. I am glad, however, that you are where you can have the best assistance. I do not know when our Session will close, but I had designed at all events to leave this when the Money matters were decided. However, finding that you are not better, if I had received the letters when they came (I was in a committee until after midnight when the letters came) or had my horse here, I would have started immediately. But no stage can now be got this week, but one that would detained me as long in Lancaster is if I stayed here until Monday. The business I have to do for the neighbors is not done and we have some important questions before the House. However, at all events, I will start so as to be with you perhaps Thursday or Friday of next. Therefore I hope you will not attempt to go with Mr. Proudfit. I regret that I did not bring my horse. I might have come up the other road.
It has pleased Jehovah, in whose hand your breath is and whose are all your ways, to measure out to you a long course of affliction. Distressing as this is, it may be His blessing have its advantage whether life or death be the result. For suppose the first, there is much time and opportunity given to secure the mind from the vexations and losses of this transitory world and to prepare for and look forward toward that state of existence to which we are all hastening and where the most healthy and robust you are leaving must very soon arrive, and many of them with very little warning of its approach. And if it please God that you should recover, still afflictions may be of great moral and religious advantage. It may tend to dispose your mind to live more near to God and be more submissive to His will the remainder of your days. It is in days of such tryal as this that it is peculiarly both your duty and interest to trust in the goodness and mercy of God. The promises of the Gospel ought at all times to be studied and applied, but especially in times of trouble, for to this season there is the promise that He will heal and deliver, and as He has graciously revealed Himself as the Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort and Consolation, it is your duty and I hope it is your exercise to hope and trust in Him agreeably to the discoveries He has made of Himself. If you believe yourself to have been a great sinner, it was the office of the Saviour to save sinners. If you are weak and can do nothing acceptable, it is not by works of righteousness that we have done but by His mercy that He saves you. He strengthens the weak, supports the feeble and commands even those who sit in darkness and have no light, to trust Him. He is the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, nay, let me add than a Father, Husband or all relatives taken together. For He only can support and bear the spirits up in cases where the human hand cannot relieve nor the dearest friend give relief. Hope that as is your day of affliction, so your strength from the Highest may be, I am with the most affectionate sympathy,
Your loving Husband,
(signed) Wm. Findley
Letter from Eleanor Findley Caruthers to Thomas Ewing Hunt:
Bloomingdale, Armstrong County, April 6th, 1843.
Respected Friend:--
Your letter was received in very good time, for which we felt very well pleased. It was so long since we heard from our friends in that part of the world, that we did not know whether you were living or not. While Aunt Beatty lived we generally heard from there once a year, but since her death we have no account either from Steubenville or from Jersey, but I thought we would write at a venture.
At your request I will give you a little history of our family. Soon after you were in this part of the country, we purchased a farm joining my father’s, where we lived until the Spring of 1825. But I had some years before that bailed my brother in law, John Black, to a considerable amount. He sold his farm and went to store keeping, broke up, and we had the money to pay. That and the expense we had been at in building and improving our farm, caused us to have to sell it and take the greater part of it to square us off. We then removed back to my father’s farm and rented five years. Mother was living with us. She died the first year. At the end of our time the place had to be sold. At the death of my father he owned a large tract of land at this place which he allowed to be divided among his heirs then living. Our share came to something over three hundred and fifty acres, but it was all in woods and the country very thinly settled, and the greater part of what was living here was the most ignorant class of people. A great many could neither read nor write their names. We came here in the Spring of 1830. The boys had been out the Fall before and cut away the grubs and put up a cabin. We had a great deal of hard work to do. But we made out to raise our own bread after the first year. We have now something over eighty acres cleared on our part of the place, and would have had more but our boys, all except the oldest and the youngest, went to learn trades as soon as they were old enough; so that we were never very strong handed. Our first son, William Findley Caruthers, lived with us until he was over thirty. He married Margaret Porter, the granddaughter of the Rev Samuel Porter, of Westmoreland County. His father gave him one hundred acres of land of the one end of the farm. He has got a good deal cleared of his land and is getting along tolerable well. He has two children, a son and a daughter. Our second son, John Caruthers, learned the fulling business. When he was grown up he worked at it awhile and then went to college. He was licensed to preach four years ago this Spring. He is settled in Indiana County, about eighteen miles from here. He has two congregations. He is married to Sophia Huston, of Washington. They have no children. First daughter, Mary Caruthers, married Noah Calhoun, farmer. They have four daughters. They live about nine miles from here. Second daughter, Elizabeth Caruthers, married to Isaac Rhea, farmer. They live about two miles from here. They have four children living, two sons and two daughters, and two daughters dead. Third son, Thomas Maskell Caruthers, married to Margaret Lowrie, of Pittsburg. They have two sons. He is a carpenter by trade and lives in Allegheny City. Fourth son, George Cochran Caruthers, is a carpenter and works in Allegheny City. He is not married yet. Third daughter, Martha, not married yet. She lives at home with us. Fifth son, Richard Alexander Caruthers, married to Nancy Cook, near Saltsburg. He lives one mile from here. He has had two children. He is a mill wright by trade.
Sixth son, James Ewing Caruthers, and fifth daughter, Rebecca Caruthers, and sixth daughter, Nancy Patterson Caruthers, live at home with me. Fourth daughter, I missed putting in the right place. Eleanor Caruthers married to William Findley. He is a distant relative of mine. He lives about eight miles from here. They have had one daughter. It is dead. According to their father’s will, James is to live with me and take care of the farm and me while I live, get the half of what he raises on the farm and at my death he is to get the one half of the farm. The other half to be sold and divided among the other heirs. He is twenty-two years of age this Spring, a stout healthy young man, well used to hard work. We had none but him these three years to work on the farm, except what little his Father could do, and for more than a year before he died he could do nothing but plan the work for him. The disease of which he died is call an ossification of the heart. It had been working with him for near four years. He never suffered much with sickness, but a great deal of pain by spells, and the last year was so weak that he could scarcely walk without a staff. He still was able to sit up and walk a little with his staff. He has been as far as the barn the day before he died. He was perfectly sensible to the last and gave us every evidence to believe that it was a happy change for him, so that we have no reason to mourn on his account. But, O my dear friend, we miss him here. There has been a void made here that never can be filled, but we have reason to be thankful to our Heavenly Father, that he was spared to us so long. Had he been taken off when the family was small, it would have been worse for us. We have never been able to rise much in the world in respect to wealth. But by industry and care we have got along pretty comfortably. My dear Husband said to me a few days before he died that he saw plainly that it would not have been good for us to be rich or our Heavenly Father would have granted it to us. For we had worked as hard and been as honest and careful in our dealings as some others that had throve faster than he had done, but he was thankful for what Providence had given him, and he hoped we would be so, too. I think if our health is preserved and the blessings of our Heavenly Father along with it we will get along very well. My brother John is still living in Mercer County, and is very healthy and stout for one of his age. Him and me is all of my father’s family that are living. He has four sons living, two of them preachers and two farmers. He has had five children died in their infancy. My brother David’s widow is living in Mercer town. She married my old uncle Junkin, but it proved a very unhappy match. He soon died and she went back to her children. Her oldest daughter never married. Her and her mother live together. She has two sons, lives in Mercer. Both keep store. She had another daughter married. She is dead and left three or four children. Nelly Junkin married Walter Oliver. They lived in Mercer County. They raised a family and about three years ago they both died and one or two of their children, within two or three days of each other. Sister Martha married John Junkin. They both died. They left one little girl. She married to a Mr. Francis. They live somewhere in Mercer County. Sister Polly married John Black. They raised ten children. Six daughters and four sons. They are both dead some years ago, and two of their sons is dead. The oldest that is living is a preacher somewhere in Kentucky. One of the daughters is living in the State of Mississippi, married, and one single living with her. One married to Mr. Fleeson, printer, living in Allegheny City, the other four living with them. Mr. Taylors is all dead but three of the boys and Peggy, and she is never married. They are all scattered away from that neighborhood. I was in at Westmoreland five years ago. I was at preaching one day. There was so much change in the people there. The people all looked so much older, and them that were children had got to be men and women. Them that were my associates in my youth is all dead or gone from there. According to the course of nature it will not be very long before I am gone, too. If I am as well prepared for it as my dear Richard was, it will be happy for me. I would like to hear from you once in a while, though the friends there is all strangers but yourself. The names of a good many people is familiar to me and I count them all my friends. This county has improved very much since we came here. It is pretty thickly settled now and a good many of a very different kind of people from what they were then. We have some preaching and might have a good deal more if the people were all of one mind. We have a Presbyterian and an Associate Reformed and a Seceder Congregation in reach of us and all to weak to support a preacher. The Presbyterians is about trying to get a preacher now, but whether they will be able to support him or not is uncertain.
I think it is not likely that ever any of our family will ever be as far that course as Philadelphia, without they would send John to the General Assembly some time. If they should, I would like very much that he would go and see you. The family all sends their love along with mine to you and your family. Remember us to all our friends and remember us at a throne of grace. I remain, your affectionate cousin.
Thomas E. Hunt.
Eleanor Caruthers
From “A History of Indiana County” it is gathered that one John Rhea came from County Derry, Ireland, to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He removed later to Franklin County (no dates are given). His son Joseph settled in West Virginia and later removed to the old “Coalport” farm (Note 12, Part I) in Western Pennsylvania. Joseph Rhea’s son Isaac was born near Fairmount, West Virginia, November 15, 1803. He was about six years old when brought by his father to Pennsylvania.
For years it had been uncertain whether the members of the family sketched in Part III of this volume were eligible to membership in the “Sons of the Revolution.” This matter was taken up jointly by the writer and his brother, John A. Ewing, Esq., of Denver, in 1909, and conclusively settled. The latter joined the “Sons” in February, 1910.
The following certified copies of official records make clear that both Richard Caruthers and William Findley (who became the second husband of the former’s widow) were in the Revolutionary service. The matter is, therefore, established that the members of this family have two-fold claim to membership in the society referred to:
Trenton, N. J., Nov. 22, 1909.
“It is certified that the records of this office show that Richard Caruthers was in commission as Adjutant, Second Battalion, Cumberland County, New Jersey Militia; date unknown; Adjutant Colonel David Potter’s Regiment, New Jersey State Troops, April 12, 1777. Final record unknown, during the Revolutionary War.
(Signed W. F. Sadler, Jr.,
The Adjutant General
Pennsylvania State Library,
Division of Public Records,
Hon. Edwin S. Steward,
President,
Hon. Thomas L. Montgomery, State Librarian,
Secretary and Treasurer.
Luther R. Kelker,
Custodian
-----
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U. S. A.,
January 13th, 1910
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I hereby certify that one William Findley was a Captain of the Eighth Battalion, Cumberland County Militia, 1778, “In service.”
See p. 527, Volume Six, Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series.
Luther R. Kelker,
Custodian of Public Records,
In testimony whereof I hereby affix the Seal of this Department. (Seal)
Matter quite sufficient to prove descent from the parties above named is given in this volume. Copies from the original records may be had by any one who will write to State authorities in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. By a coincidence both the above-mentioned Revolutionists were Cumberland Countians in their respective States.
Partial Classification by Vocation
It would be an interesting record could the persons named in this genealogy be classified according to their vocation and position in political and religious life. The writer finds it quite impossible to name the occupation of any considerable number of those sketched in this volume. For want of accessible records he has been able to refer to but few of those who have enter the profession of law or medicine. There have been, however, enough soldiers, lawyers, physicians, Judges, legislators and Congressmen to make clear that in the professional and political life of the country of the past century and a half the family lines herein described have had a fair share of leadership. Among the more noted in public life may be mentioned Hon. Thomas Ewing, who was the First Secretary of the Interior, and an eminent jurist of Ohio. Hon. William Findley, who not only served prominently in the Revolution, but who had a large share in shaping the Constitution of the Nation; Chief Justice Charles Ewing, of New Jersey, and the late Judge Elmer Ewing Green, of the same State. Referring to the religious life of the family and the position occupied by many of its members in the church, there are records which are well worth preserving.
It was a sturdy Protestant people who came from the North of Ireland to America during the first half of the eighteenth century. Among these were some of the Ewings, all grounded in the Presbyterian faith. Their Protestant-Presbyterian spirit did much to put them and keep them in commanding place in the settlement of the early communities. They had a very large part in the making of the Presbyterian Church in Southern New Jersey and Maryland and about Philadelphia. Interesting details are found in Part First of this volume. One silent evidence of the religious spirit which has pervaded the families herein described is the large number who have entered the Gospel Ministry. Believing that it will be not only of interest to those now living, but also an inspiration and incentive to those who are to follow us, I am here giving a partial list of those who have entered the Christian ministry, and whose names are in this volume. Nearly all those named being thorough-born Calvinists entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church:
William Ellis Hunt, Backus Wilbur, Matthew Brown, Samuel Porter, Charles C. Beatty, John Caruthers, James E. Caruthers, James B. Caruthers, Richard Alexander Caruthers, Thomas Maskell Findley, William D. Findley, Thomas Davis Ewing, Thompson R. Ewing, Thomas A. McCurdy, Allen W. McCurdy, James Caruthers, Rhea Ewing, Arthur Henry Ewing, Joseph Lyons Ewing, Homer Snitcher, Herman Hosick, Robert Armstrong, James B. Lyle. Twelve or more have gone as foreign missionaries and scores have filled the office of Ruling Elder and other honored positions in the Church.
Will of Mary Findley
In the name of God, Amen.—I, Mary Findley, widow of William Findley, Esq., deceased, of Unity township, Westmoreland county, and State of Pennsylvania, being old and weak in body, but sound of mind and memory—and calling to mind the uncertainty of human life, and that it is appointed for all men once to die, I do recommend my soul to my great creator who gave it and my body to the earth from whence it came in hopes of a glorious resurrection through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Savior—in Whom I believe, receive and trust as He is made known in the Gospel for the redemption and salvation of my soul. And as to my worldly goods wherewith it has pleased God to bless me, I dispose them in the manner following. First. It is my will that all my just debts and funeral charges be paid as soon as conveniently they can be after my decease. 2d. It is my will that my beloved son, Richard E. Caruthers, and Elinor, his wife, receive a remuneration for the care or trouble they have had or may have with me. It is also my will that my wearing apparel and saddle be not appraised, but made use of by my grand-daughters, as their mother, Elinor Caruthers, shall direct. 3d. I will that to my six grand-sons, viz: William F. Caruthers, John Caruthers, Thomas M. Caruthers, George C. Caruthers, Richard A. Caruthers and James E. Caruthers, sons of Richard E. Caruthers and Elinor, his wife, be given to each one a family Bible and such other of my books as I have marked with their names. 4th. I will that to my four grand-daughters, viz.: Mary Caruthers, Elizabeth Caruthers, Martha Caruthers and Elinor Caruthers, be given a feather bed, bolsters and pillows, two sheets, two pair of pillow cases, two blankets and a bed quilt or coverlet, and a bedstead with the appurtenances thereof to each alike in number. 5th. To Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of my late beloved husband, William Findley, Esq., one feather bed, bolster and pillows, which she has received, there are to be added and given to her two sheets, two pair of pillow cases, two blankets and a bed quilt or coverlet. 6th. To Mariah Black, daughter of John and Mary Black, and grand-daughter of my late beloved husband, William Findley, Esq., one featherbed, bolster and pillows, two sheets, two pair of pillow cases, two blankets and a bed quilt and bedstead, which I have already put into the hands of her mother to take care of for her. 7th It is my will that to each of my beloved grand-daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, Martha and Elinor, shall be given a cow, to be named for them and kept in the care of their parents, and delivered to them as it shall become proper and necessary for them to receive them. 8th. It is my will that to my beloved grand-daughter, Mary Caruthers, be given my silver tablespoons marked M. E., with this proviso, that if she die without an heir they go to her sisters, and be divided two to each and the odd one to the oldest; likewise, that to each of my other grand-daughters, Elizabeth, Martha and Elinor, be given six silver teaspoons. 9th. It is my will that the silver tablespoons marked F. be divided: two to Elizabeth Patterson, two to Elinor Caruthers and two to Mary Black, the three daughters of my late beloved husband, William Findley, Esq. 10th. It is my will that to William Findley, son of John Findley, Esq., and grandson of my beloved husband, William Findley, Esq., deceased, be given the silver watch that was his grandfather’s. 11th. It is my will that the remainder of my linen and bed clothes, after the aforesaid are furnished according to the above directions, such as sheets, tablecloths, towels, pillow cases, coverlids, blankets, etc., be valued and divided in shares as equal as they can be judged to be and given to each of my aforesaid grand-daughters, curtains included. 12th. It is my will that my sorrel horse, called Rock, be kept in the care of my beloved son, Richard E. Caruthers, not to be disposed of out of the family. My other horse, called Tom, I give to said son as his property, and at his disposal. I will likewise that my silver spectacles be given to my beloved son, Richard E. Caruthers, and to my beloved daughter-in-law, Elinor Caruthers, the silver set spectacles that was her father’s; likewise, that to my said son and daughter-in-law be given my two copper kettles and flax hatchels coarse and fine. 13. It is my will that any of my books, in which I have written the names of my said grand-daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, Martha and Elinor, be given to them each as their names are written; likewise that anything that I have heretofore given to any one of my aforesaid grandsons or grand-daughters be not accounted for by them, but to be accounted their property—likewise my pictures and any other pieces of furniture which by age has become a kind of family property, I leave in the care of my beloved daughter-in-law, Elinor Caruthers, to dispose of as she will see proper. And, whenever heirs of my late beloved husband, William Findley, Esq., shall see proper to purchase and erect a tombstone over their father’s grave, that a proportionate sum shall be appropriated from the proceeds of my property for that use. It is my will that the remaining property belonging to me be appraised and disposed of to the best advantage, and after my just debts and funeral charges be paid, the proceeds to be equally divided among my six grandsons, viz.: William F., John, Thomas M., George C., Richard E., and James E. Caruthers, to be put to use for them, and paid to them by my executors as they shall come of age to receive it—and if any of them shall die before they become of age, that the share of the deceased shall be equally divided among the surviving brothers; further, if any of the brothers or sisters choose to take anything at the appraisement, that they be allowed to do so, they accounting for the same to the executors.—Provided, notwithstanding, that any expense requiring money be paid out of this residue of my property; further that any debts due to me at the time of my decease, be accounted in this item of my will.
I do hereby constitute and appoint my respected friend, Joseph Baldridge, Esq., and my beloved daughter-in-law, Elinor Caruthers, the sole executors of this my last will and testament, with full power to administer on and execute the same. And in testimony of the above being my last will and testament, I hereunto set my hand and seal this 5th day of November, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
MARY FINDLEY, (Seal.)
Signed, sealed and declared to be her last will and testament in the presence of us, who in the presence of each other have hereunto set our hands.
JAMES W. HILL,
ISABELLA HILL,
Proven and approved before me, the 21st day of November, 1825.
ROBERT MONTGOMERY, Regr.
Isabella Ewing—Manasseh Coyle
Manasseh Coyle, son of William Coyle and Rosannah Bolton, was born in Ireland about 1756. He came to Pennsylvania about 1771. He enlisted in the Continental Army and did splendid service throughout the war. He was among those taken prisoner on one occasion by the British and also by the Indians. In these experiences he was forced to run the gauntlet for his life. He made his escape, however, and with several others rejoined the army. He married Isabella Ewing at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, Pa., on September 29, 1785. After they were married, Isabella was once talking with her husband about her brother, Adam Ewing, and wondering what had become of him, and he had been absent for some years. Manasseh explained that a man of that name had escaped from the Indians with him, and while they were going down the river in a canoe an Indian from ambush shot Ewing and he fell overboard and was drowned. (See record of Adam Ewing.)
Manasseh and Isabella Coyle removed to Mercer County, Pa., prior to 1810, as his name was taken in the census of that year in that county. He died in 1834 and was buried in the Mercer Cemetery. She survived him for a number of years, and from March 4, 1836, she drew his pension. Isabella Ewing was a member of the Presbyterian Church of Unity, near Greenfield Mercer County, Pa., and was buried in the church yard there. In regard to Manasseh Coyle’s religious belief and church connection, he may have been reared a Roman Catholic, but as there was no Roman Catholic Church nearer his Mercer County home than Pittsburg, seventy miles distant, he could not have attended that church; and his wife, being a Scotch Presbyterian of the “true blue” type, reared their family Protestant and Presbyterian. However, their eldest son, James, went to Pittsburg and married a Roman Catholic. But of James’ children only one daughter was a Roman Catholic, as are her descendants. The four sons of Manasseh Coyle all married Protestant wives, some of the family being Presbyterian elders in various places. The fact is, the descendants of Manasseh Coyle and Isabella Ewing are nearly all strongly Protestant, being Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, etc.
William Coyle, son of Manasseh Coyle and Isabella Ewing, married Nancy Harsha Douthett. The children of this pair were Robert Ewing, James Watson, Rosannah Jane, Mansseh Bolton, Nancy Isabella, Margaret Elizabeth. All these are dead. William Alexander, Sarah Eleanor and Martha Minerva are at this date, September, 1910, living. The last named resides at Sharon, Pa. But three of William Coyle’s family had children. The first, James Watson Coyle, married Elizabeth McMurray, and had children as follows: Walter Manfred, Leillie May, Sarah Medora, Venetia Florence and Bessie Watson. The second, Rosanna Jane Coyle, married Stephen Thomas Miller, and they have children; James Wilson married to Anna Kellar; Martha Etta, married to John S. Ramsey; Nancy Isabella, Robert Watson, Florence Ella, Laura Eva, married to H. N. Marshall; Emma Clarissa, married to Edward Stewart; Margaret May, married to James Hall; Jesse Allen, married to Ella Stewart, and Harry Jackson, married to ----- Pitzer. The third, Nancy Isabella Coyle, married James Ferguson Jackson and had children as follows: Rachel Nancy, Margaret Eleanor, Hugh William, married to Elizabeth M. Porter; James Bolton, Robert Watson, Martha Jane and Susanna Mary Coyle, married to Charles Luther Heard.
James Ferguson Jackson, above mentioned, was a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church at Pulaski for about thirty years.
(From notes of Miss Martha Minerva Coyle, of Sharon, Pa. She is the secretary of the “Manasseh Coyle Association.”)