Allen line: Alexis Jackson 1762-1826

This post is a little about the "dash" in Alexis Jackson's life.  Before our recent trip to Ohio, I knew the names of his parents, that he had married Catherine Moore in Greene County, Pennsylvania, about 1784 and that he had died in Pike Township, Marion County, Indiana.  I also had names for some of his children.  That is all that I knew about this man. 

One of the first books I looked at in the Ohio Genealogy Society library was one called "Index to Servicemen of War of 1812, State of Ohio" published in 1988 and edited by Phyllis Brown Miller.  Here's what it said:  "Jackson, Alexis; vol patriot in Seth Harrington's Company, Erie Co., Ohio, b 1768 (nt=y records say 1762) d. 1826; bur. Marion Co., In., m. Catherine Moore; Erie Co. Rcds Vol 1 p. 105, vol. 11 p. 913, Williams Hist Huron & Erie Co.s Oh. p 454 (1954, 1967)". 

Wow!  Our ancestor was in the War of 1812 in one way or another.  Ordinarily a "patriot" is one who donates supplies, livestock, or money to the war effort but this specifically says he was with "Seth Harrington's Company".  I wonder if he was somehow more directly involved in the effort.  Did he perhaps serve as a cook or a guide or in some other function, not directly in battle?  I am still working on that.  However, he was somewhere around 45-50 years old at the start of the War, so he may well have not been up to military service.  Still, he served, somehow and someway.  I can't wait to find out more about what he did, but he belongs in the company of those who served their country, in my estimation. 

So now that I knew where to start looking, I found quite a bit of information about Alexis.  He was in what became Huron County by 1811, before the War broke out.  If the 1784 marriage date is correct he have been married more than 25 years, and had several children.  I still don't know what prompted him to go there, to what was basically a pioneer wilderness, nor whether he had spent the first 25 years of his marriage in Greene County.  But what I did find is just, to my mind, extraordinary. 

It's a letter published in the Firelands Pioneer, Volume XXIII, pages 346-348, from a great grand daughter of Alexis Jackson, Mrs. M.C. Frederick.  This was published in 1925 but the letter itself may have been written as much as a year earlier, for it's not dated.  Here are some excerpts from the letter:

"My grandmother, Catherine Jackson Carter, was born in Pennsylvania in 1809 and when she was very young her family drove to Sandusky, Ohio. They took their cows with them, the milk was strained into the churn, and traveling churned the butter.  I was told that a recent history of Erie County mentioned Alexus Jackson (my great grandfather) as having settled in Groton Township, the exact date not given.  A letter to the County recorder of Huron county bought the information that Alexus Jackson sold (or bought?)land in 1811 (Vol. 1 page 305 of Erie, Town of Perkins) and again in 1819 he sold 40 acres, his wife Catharine being mentioned in this deed (Vol. 2 p. 913 Erie., also that a tract containing 116 acres in Huron county, (Erie not yet formed) the property of Alexus Jackson, deceased, was sold in 1830 by Alexus, executor, late of Marion County, Indiana by his last will and testament made Feb. 2, 1826 (vol6, p. 440, Erie).  This would indicate that the family went to Ohio some time between June 1, 1809, the date of my grandmother's birth, and 1811; that the father died, probably in 1826, and that the widow and family-there were six girls and five or six boys-went to Marion County (Indianapolis) between 1826 and 1829, when my grandmother was married at Indianapolis.

"As I remember the story she told me when I was a child, they with other settlers were in the fort at Sandusky for protection from the Indians in the War of 1812, and nearly perished for lack of food.  At intervals men would steal out at night and endeavor to procure provisions, but they never returned, undoubtedly discovered and killed by the Indians.  What food they did have was not suitable for small children, and a number of them died, including, I think, my grandmother's baby sister.  Grandmother remembered seeing the smoke and hearing the firing of "Perry's Victory," which ended the trouble and permitted them to return to their homes.  She was then four years and three months old."

There is other interesting material in the letter, not directly applicable to Alexis Jackson and family, but I find this fascinating.  The author does mention several of the children, including Eleanor, who married Vincent McCoy, so we know this is our Alexis.  Eleanor would have been about two years younger than the Catherine who was mentioned above, so she surely was with her mother and siblings in the Fort, too, although she may not have had any memory of it. 

These were exciting finds for me.  Now I have more questions, such as why Alexis and Catherine decided to leave Pennsylvania for Ohio, and why they later (date undetermined) decided to move on to Marion County, Indiana.  I believe the writer made an error when she said that the widow and children went to Marion County.  Alexis's will was written there and I believe he died there, although I don't know how long he'd been there.  I still don't know if Alexis had an occupation besides farming.  But what I do know is this glimpse into one segment of his and his family's life, and it's so much more than I knew before. 

It's another happy genealogy dance day!

The line of descent is:

Alexis Jackson-Catherine Moore
Eleanor Jackson-Vincent McCoy
Nancy McCoy-George R. Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line: Adam Armstrong 1685-1749 Immigrant

Adam Armstrong would be a fascinating man to talk with.  He was born in Cumbria, England in 1685, the descendant of Armstrong families who had fought in the border wars with Scotland for hundreds of years.  The fact that he was born in England indicates that his side of the family had reconciled to English rule, since for three generations back his family had been born in England, but possibly heir heart was still in Scotland.  From what I've read about the Border Wars, it would take make than a generation to win a family's loyalty.  So at the very least, he would have had a lot of family stories to tell, and they alone would have made him a very interesting character.

He was a son of Adam Armstrong and Jane Graham, and had a brother, Francis.  Little is known of their upbringing.  Some sources say the family went to Ireland but since the family was English that seems at first glance to be unlikely.  However, if the family adhered to the Scottish church (akin to Presbyterian) then perhaps they did emigrate.  I've not found proof of that yet.  At any rate Adam married Mary Forster in 1705 and they had at least four children: Margaret, William, Adam Abraham and John.

The next fact I can find about Adam is that he died in Cumberland Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania in 1749, according to Find A Grave. .  It is believed that the family came to America in the 1730s (one source thinks it was as early as 1729).  What interests me immensely is this "fill in the blanks" time between arrival here and how/why he arrived in Greene County, Pa. Or is Howard Leckley correct, in saying that the family settled near Chambersburg, which is far to the east and still was described as frontier during the French and Indian War?  I found mention of Adam (Adam Abraham), father of Hannah, in Peters Township, Bedford County in 1751, which would be between the two locations.so I'm leaning towards the Chambersburg location at present.  Whichever location is correct, the family would have been one of the many thousands who came to Pennsylvania and made something out of nothing, basically. (We do know that Adam's granddaughter, Hannah, who married Dr. John Moore, was in the Greene County area but that was some years later, so again makes me think that the first Adam didn't make it as far as some think.)

I'd be thrilled to hear from someone who knows more about this Adam and his wife Mary.  What did he do for a living?  Were they troubled by native Americans, wherever it was they lived? And was it near Chambersburg, or was it in Bedford County, or was it in what became Greene County?  We need to know more about this family! 

The line of descent is:

Adam Armstrong-Mary Forster
Adam Abraham Armstrong-Elizabeth Olifer
Hannah Armstrong-Dr. John Moore
Catherine Moore-Alexis Jackson
Eleanor Jackson-Vincent McCoy
Nancy McCoy-George R Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants







 
 

Allen line: Short notes about Thomas Stump, Immigrant.

I'm writing this post in the hopes that someone knows something more about this immigrant ancestor.  He is a bit unusual in the Allen line since the only records I can find about him are from Maryland.  There aren't a lot of Maryland ancestors in the Allen line.

We don't know when he was born, although almost every tree I can find on line says he was born in 1690, and possibly in Germany.  That would again be unusual, for not many Germans settled in Prince Georges County in the early 18th century.  Of course, saying something would be unusual doesn't prove it's not true, because our family, and our country, are made up of "unusual" people. 

There are very few facts we can pull out about our ancestor Thomas.  His wife's name (at his death) was Eliza or Elizabeth, and they had three sons, Thomas, John, and William, born roughly from 1715 to 1721.  Thomas is named on a list of taxables in 1719, in the Rock Creek Hundred of Prince Georges County.  We also find William McCoy on this list, and John Jackson.  The Rock Creek Hundred, per "The Ten Mile Country and Its Pioneer Families" would have been part of Rock Creek Parish, and located in or very near the present city of Washington, D.C.

According to the Maryland Calendar of Wills, volume 6, his will was written April 29 1723 and probated May 10, 1723, leaving to his 3 sons, Thomas, John and William and their heirs, 200 acres "Stump's Valles in the freshes of Potomoac River, equally.  Wife Eliz. executrix, and testators were John Flint,Ninian Tannchill, and Robt. Payne or Paine. 

Then, in Settlers of Maryland 1701-1730- we find Thomas Stump, presumably the son of this Thomas Stump, listed as owning 200 acres called Stump's Valley as of May 20, 1725. This is confusing because son Thomas would have been only about 10 years old.  Perhaps the land was being registered for the first time under the deceased Thomas's name, since many times having the land surveyed and a deed made was not the first thing on a settler's mind. 

I find a lot of trees out there giving Thomas a death date in 1730, so there is confusion about his death date as well.  Perhaps there were later probate proceedings, or possibly guardianship papers, which generated this date.  I'd like to know the source for the 1730 date, which so far I have been unable to find. 

Of course I'd like to know almost everything about Thomas.  Was he truly born about 1690, and was he from Germany?  If so, how and why did he come to Maryland?  If he wasn't from Germany, where was he from?  Who was his wife, and what is her story?  There are surely more records to be mined that have presently gone unnoticed, and I'd love to find them and see what else can be learned about Thomas Stump.His story is just too much of a blank.

I'd love to hear from others who are interested in this man.  Where else can we look for records?

The line of descent is:

Thomas Stump-Elizabeth
Thomas Stump-Jane Booth
Elizabeth Stump-Henry Jackson
Alexis Jackson-Catherine Moore
Eleanor Jackson-Vincent McCoy
Nancy McCoy-George Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendents

Allen line: John Moore 1740's to 1816

John Moore was another admirable man in our family line.  I like to think of him talking, for he was born in Ireland and probably had that Irish lilt in his voice to the end of his days.  Records differ as to whether he was born in 1741 or 1745, and he don't know the location other than somewhere in Ireland. His father may have been Thomas Moore, and it is possible that his wife was Christina Bishop, but there are so many Moores in the records that I haven't been able to determine whether either statement is fact or not.

Family lore states that he had enrolled to study for the priesthood in Ireland, but changed his mind and became a physician. We don't know whether that was before or after he came to the New World.  He arrived in Philadelphia in 1770 on board the ship "Caroline".  Again, a family story states that when the Revolutionary War broke out, he offered his services as a physician to the Patriots but was turned down, for whatever reason.  He is listed as having been a private in the war, but it is not known which John Moore he is, in the records. It is possible that his role was in the latter part of the war, protecting the frontier from Indian incursions.

He married Hannah Armstrong, daughter of Adam Abraham Armstrong and Margaret Nixon. (This couple were ancestral to astronaut Neil Armstrong, so we are his very distant cousins.) The Moores had 3 sons and five daughters, and of course there may have been infant or childhood deaths.  John owned at least two tracts of land in what became Washington and then Greene County, Pa, and farmed there. It appears that he also taught school. It is unknown whether he practiced his physician skills in his new home. 

Hannah died December 2, 1814, and John died nearly two years later, on December 1, 1816. They are buried in the Armstrong Cemetery, 3 miles east of Carmichaels, Pa.

I wish we knew more about the stories, and could find some documentation for them. I wish we knew more about John's Revolutionary War service, and why his physician's skills were not accepted. I'd love to know what church they may have attended.  And of course, I wish we knew his parents, and where in Ireland they were from. 

The line of descent is:

John Moore-Hannah Armstrong
Catherine Moore-Alexis Jackson
Eleanor Jackson-Vincent McCoy
Nancy McCoy-George Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Allen descendents