Who's Your Grammie?

I have been writing about the grandmothers in our family tree since August of 2012. Beginning with "A is for Anna" each entry introduced you to a different grandmother. Telling the Grandmother stories was a fun way to share my research with family and friends. Now I am looking at our Revolutionary War ancestors, their service records, the story of their families and of course the stories of their wives, our grandmothers. After all, "Who's Your Grammie?" is about our grandmothers!

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Index to Who's Your Grammie

Hughes Family Stories

McEwen Family Stories

Estep Family Stories

Long Family Stories

Smith Family Stories

Good Family Stories

Graver Family Stories

Fry Family Stories

Other Pages of Historical Interest

GENEALOGY IS A WORK OF HEART

Your comments and suggestions below are appreciated. It is with pleasure that I am able to present this information here for you to see. If you discover a relationship here, I would very much enjoy hearing from you.

Send email to chsmith47@yahoo.com

This site may be linked, but not duplicated in any way without consent. The copyright on this page must appear on all copied and/or printed material.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

William McEwen (1775-1840)

When I asked my grandfather, Wm. Homer McEwen of Lower Mount Bethel, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania what he knew about the McEwen family history he said, "There were 21 McEwens and they all went west but ours." So my task back in 1976 was to figure out where all those McEwens had gone. I knew Pappy's father was Henry McEwen and that his father was Billy McEwen and that Billy's father was a man named John McQuown. It was unknown who John's parents were, they must have been the ones who "went west".

After a whole lot of research I hit pay dirt! A letter in answer to an inquiry I had placed in the Tri-State Trader, a weekly antiques newspaper published in Indiana arrived with the connection I was looking for. Marjory Gerold wrote that she suspected that my John was the son of William and Sarah McEwen who had migrated to Seneca County, Ohio in 1823. Her family history refered to him as "John, the Pennsylvanian."

James McEwen, younger brother of our John, came with his parents, William McEwen and Sarah Johnson McEwen, to Seneca Co., Ohio in 1823, and settled upon the land now occupied as Greenlawn Cemetery was quoted in the History of Seneca Co. about the family's journey from Northampton County, Pennsylvania to Ohio:

"My father, William McEwen, was born in Berwick, Pennsylvania. He went to Northampton county, Pennsylvania, to learn the trade of a blacksmith, and was married there to Sarah Johnson. We came here in the fall of 1823 and brought with us one half ton of hay, which we made at New Haven. With this hay we kept four horses and two cows all winter. There was plenty of picking in the woods all winter in 1823. Father entered the southwest quarter of section twenty-seven, in Clinton, and put up a cabin there and a blacksmith shop. My parents had twenty-one children altogether, of whom sixteen were then living. I am the youngest of the family. (History of Seneca Co.: 1880)"

McEwen is a Scots-Irish name. The McEwen family came to the United States prior to the Revolutionary War. John McQuown was living in Northampton Co., PA in the township of Lower Mt. Bethel at the time of the Revolutionary War. The family, like so many other Scots -Irish, were people who lived on the outer edge of the settled areas of the time. They relocated many times between Northampton, Co. and Columbia, Co., Pennsylvania. John's son, William McEwen, the pioneer to Ohio, was born at Berwick, Columbia, Co., Pennsylvania on Nov. 8, 1775.

When a young man William came to Northampton Co.,Pennsylvania to learn the trade of blacksmith, which became his life's work. He married Sarah Johnson, daughter of John Johnson, and together they had a family of 21 children. William and Sarah bought and sold property in both Berwick, Columbia, Co., Pennsylvania and Mt. Bethel, Northampton, Co., Pennsylvania. In 1823 when William and Sarah McEwen pioneered west to Seneca Co., Ohio they were one of the first families to open up that territory for settlement. Their son John returned to Mt. Bethel to marry his sweetheart, Anna Houck. John's descendents continue to live in Northampton Co. Pennsylvania.

A very good book has been published by Marjory McEwen Gerold, "The Descendents of Thomas Clark and Maria Disinger McEwen" which traces the McEwens in Ohio. It was through her research and mine that the connection of our John in Northampton Co., Pennsylvania to his father William in Seneca Co., Ohio was made.

William McEwen, with his large family homesteaded the southwest quarter of section twenty-seven, in Clinton township, Seneca Co. There he built a cabin for the family and a blacksmith shop where he carried out his trade. William & Sarah Johnson McEwen are buried at Rock Run Cemetery, Sect.4, Eden Twp., Seneca Co., Ohio. The Cemetery is not far from the place where they lived.

Sarah Johnson McEwen

William McEwen

The Children of William McEwen I (1775 - 1840) and Sarah Johnson (1785 - 1842) were:
Margaret (~1803-1877), John (1806-1832), Mary (Polly) (1807-1886), Henry (1809-1896) William (1810-1898), Elizabeth (Betsy) (1811-1843), Sarah (1814-1899), Elmira Rebecca (1816-1842), Robert (1817-1875), James (1818-1885), George W. (1819-1856), Samuel (1821-), Permelia (Milly) (1823-), Rachel (1824-), Anna (1826-1890), Martha (1827-1899)

The linage of William and Sarah McEwen.

1. John McEwen (26 May 1806 - 23 Apr 1832) married Anna Houck (10 Feb 1807 - About 1871/1880)

2. William McEwen (9 Jul 1832 - 21 Apr 1902) married Sarah Rasley (24 Jan 1829 - 12 Jan 1919)

3. Henry McEwen (14 May 1856 - 19 Aug 1946) married Clara Illick (15 Sep 1859 - 20 Feb 1942)

4. William "Homer" McEwen (10 Oct 1895 - 21 Oct 1977) married Sarah "Eliza" Long (24 Mar 1898 - 9 May 1987)

Sources:

History of Seneca County: from the close of the Revolutionary War to July, 1880 - Springfield, Ohio: Transcript Print. Co., 1880 - Page 522
Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 January 2019), memorial page for William McEwen (8 Nov 1775–7 Aug 1840), Find A Grave Memorial no. 19829008, citing Rock Run Cemetery, Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, USA ; Maintained by Anonymous (contributor 46795196) .
Lake, D. J. (1864) Map of Seneca Co., Ohio. Philadelphia: Cyrus Stone, Clarence Titus, . Phila.: Printed by Thos. Wagner. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012592236/.
"The Descendents of Thomas Clark and Maria Disinger McEwen", Marjory McEwen Gerold.

Please see list of all My Revolutionary War Ancestors.

Please see the Index to my "Who's Your Grammie" Blog

GENEALOGY IS A WORK OF HEART

Send email to chsmith47@yahoo.com

This site may be linked, but not duplicated in any way without consent. The copyright on this page must appear on all copied and/or printed material.

Saturday, December 29, 2018

John Johnson (1761 - 1815)

It seems that William Johnson, the father of John Johnson, owned property in Lower Mount Bethel, Northampton County, Pennsylvania near land owned by William McEwen. In about 1801 William McEwen married Sarah Johnson, daughter of John and granddaughter of William Johnson.

John Johnson practiced the trade of Blacksmith and most likely William McEwen was apprenticed to him to learn the trade as well. A blacksmith forged items needed by farmers such as shovels, plows and pitchforks. They made the shoes for horses and the metal parts needed to make carriages and wagons. He also manufactured all manner of metal items such as nails, pots and pans, door latches and hinges. Every village had a blacksmith who was essential to the economy of the community.

The Johnsons and McEwens were members of the Scotch-Irish Settlement at Martins Creek. Also known as Hunter's Settlement, this location is right across the Delaware River from Warren Co., NJ where John must have lived as a boy. John Johnson was the son of William Johnson and Elizabeth who lived in Sussex Co., NJ in the neighborhood of Knowlton Township which today is in Warren County, New Jersey. William Johnson's will #600S June 20, 1794, and was probated October 11, 1794 in Sussex Co., NJ. and names his children, who were: Abraham, John, Anthony, Catherine, Margaret, Sarah and Elizabeth; and his son- in- law, Moses Weaver.

John Johnson's marriage to Jerusha Kitchen took place after the Revolutionary War in about 1784.

Several documents show his service as a patriot in the Revolutionary war.

Pennsylvania Archives
Vol. 8, 5th Series P. 394

Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File
Army Private - Enlisted

5th Battalion Private 4th Class - Capt. Patrick Campbell (April 29, 1782)

5th Battalion Private 4th Class - Capt. John Long’s Company from Aug. 30, 1782 to Oct. 27, 1782

His tombstone is still in very good condition in the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian Burial Ground. The stones are black and are located near the wall by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. He died at the age of 54 in 1815.

JOHNSON, John

b. 11-1-1761 - d. 1-19-1815

JOHNSON, Jerusha

wife of John JOHNSON

b. 2-18-1764 - d. 9-8-1822

John and Jerusha Kitchen Johnson were the parents of several children. From the abstract of his last Will and Testament #3044, the children named are: Sarah who married William McGowen (McQuown, McEwen); Elizabeth, who married Thomas Searles and Margaret, who married to Ignatius Fradeneck. Others compiled and listed by Marjory Gerold are Henry, Peter, William, Martha, John and Isabella. From his will the marriage of Sarah Johnson to William McEwen is proven. He left her a large part of his estate. In 1823 after the death of her mother, Jerusha, Sarah and William McEwen pioneered to Seneca Co. Ohio where William practiced the trade of blacksmith. just as his father in law had taught him.

Sources:

The History of Seneca Co., Ohio, published Chicago:Warner, Beers & Co., 1886.
Find A Grave Memorial# 11997522 John Johnson and Find A Grave Memorial# 11997525 Jerusha Johnson
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/northampton/history/local/davis/davis27.txt
Pa State Archives @ http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us
Pennsylvania Archives Vol. 8, 5th Series P. 394 - 405
Northampton County Archives, 999 Conroy Place, Easton, PA 18040

Please see this list of all My Revolutionary War Ancestors.

Please see the Index to my "Who's Your Grammie" Blog

GENEALOGY IS A WORK OF HEART

Send email to chsmith47@yahoo.com

This site may be linked, but not duplicated in any way without consent. The copyright on this page must appear on all copied and/or printed material.