Pennsylvania 

             Pensylvania
first colony    1681
first ancestor  1728
last ancestor   1792
# of ancestors    11
# of immigrants    7
# born in state    4
# died in state    4
  • CRAWFORD family (1738-1792)
  • DONNOHUE family (1765-by 1797)
  • ROBINSON family (1730-1797)

    During the 1600s the first settlers in what is now Pennsylvania were a few Dutch, Swedish, and British settlers in the south-eastern corner, and some French in the western regions. It became a colony in 1681 by a grant from Charles II to William Penn. Penn came to America the following year and established the colonial capital, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania was set up with religious freedom for all. Initially it attracted British and Welsh Quakers, but in the 18th century it also attracted significant Scots-Irish, Scottish, German, and French immigrants.

    We are most interested in the Scotch-Irish and Scottish wave of settlers. The origin of the Scotch-Irish go back to 1603 when James VI, King of Scots, succeeded Elizabeth I. He started a program of moving people from the border of England and Scotland to Ulster, the northern province of Ireland. This reduced the tensions along the Scottish border, and it provided fighting men to contain the rebellious Irish. Later, in the 1690s, tens of thousands more Scotch moved to Ireland to escape a famine in Scotland. The Scotch prospered in Ulster, and constituted one-tenth the population of Ireland. However because they were principally Presbyterian, Charles I instituted polices to try to eradicate the church and pull the Presbyterians over to the Church of England. The Scotch-Irish became oppressed in their new land, and became fed up with the discrimination by the early 18th century. Starting in 1717, over 200,000 migrated to America before the Revolutionary War, with the primary destination being Pennsylvania and Delaware. By 1750, one-forth the population of Pennsylvania was Scotch-Irish. Because they were poor, used to farming, and stayed together in small settlements where they worshipped together and intermarried, they naturally ended up on the frontier, in Chester, Lancaster, and Dauphin counties. The second or third generation of Scotch-Irish kept moving west to find more land, and ended up along the Wilderness Road through Virginia to Kentucky and Tennessee.

    The land in central Pennsylvania that most concerns us is dominated by a series of mountain ridges and valleys that start in New York and extend southwest to the center of Pennsylvania, and from there more south into Virginia. These ridges are cut by the Susquehanna River which then flows southeast into Chesepeake Bay. The current capital of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, is on the river just south of the first mountain ridge from the south. The river is wide but shallow; no bridges crossed the river, although there were three ferries that crossed in and south of Harrisburg.


    Map of central Pennsylvania showing the Susquehanna River cutting through the mountain ridges. Red '+'s show where our ancestors lived; from right to left Philip Robinson, James Crawford, and George Robinson

    The French and Indian Wars (1754-1763) had a great effect on Pennsylvania. The French presence in America was concentrated along the Saint Lawrence River and the major waterways south to Louisiana. They built Fort Duquesne at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which forms the start of the Ohio River (and is the location of Pittsburg). When the British tried building their own fort nearby, the French force drove off the construction crew. In retaliation, a group of Virginians under 22-year-old George Washington ambushed a French force in May 1754 at the Battle of Jumonville Glen. War soon broke out between the two nations, and spilled over to the Continent in the form of the Seven Years War. The major fighting in America concentrated along the Ohio and Hudson Rivers. The War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, in which France ceded all of its land in North America to England and Spain.

    After the Battle of Jumonville Glen, the British general Edward Braddock took a major force with him to build a road through western Pennsylvania and attack Fort Duquesne. In July of 1755, before he reached his objective, French regular forces and Indians attacked him in what ended up a disaster for the British. They did not know how to fight the wily Indians, who would attack and then disappear into the woods. Braddock was killed, and his entire force was decimated. This defeat invigorated the Indians to attack many of the settlers in the western half of Pennsylvania during the rest of that summer and on through 1756. The Indians had ceded all lands to the east of the Susquehanna River to the British, but felt threatened by the settlers to the west of the River and on into the Ohio River basin. Originally, they had excellent relations with William Penn, who very much wanted to treat the Indians fairly. But relations detereorated when Penn died and when the Scotch-Irish settled in the frontier regions. The Indians made numerous raids on isolated homes, often killing the men and kidnapping the women or children. All of the territory north and west of the mountain ridges described above were especially vulnerable as travel over the mountains was slow and there were no large settlements for protection. Compounding the situation was the Quaker anti-violence philosophy. The government in Philadelphia made no provisions for a militia to protect the settlers in Pennsylvania. Instead, the individual communities had to provide their own defences, which consisted of hundreds of small forts and garrison houses.

    One of the confusing parts of researching history in colonial America is the many name changes that occur. The land where our ancestors lived was in many different governmental entities as counties and townships were divided and carved up:

    For James Crawford's land:
    1682 Chester County
    1729 Lancaster County - Pennsborough Township
            north of Yellow Breeches Creek:
    1745 Lancaster County - East Pennsborough Township
    1750 Cumberland County - East Pennsborough Township
    1758 Cumberland County - Allen Township
    1850 Cumberland County - Upper Allen Township
            south of Yellow Breeches Creek:
    1745 Lancaster County - Monaghan Township
    1750 York County - Monaghan Township

    For Philip Robinson's land:
    1682 Chester County
    1729 Lancaster County
    1737 Lancaster County - Hanover Township
    1785 Dauphin County - Hanover Township
    1842 Dauphin County - East Hanover Township

    For George Robinson's land:
    1682 Chester County
    1729 Lancaster County
    1750 Cumberland County
    1762 Cumberland County - Toboyne Township
    1820 Perry County - Toboyne Township
    1835 Perry County - Madison Township
    1866 Perry County - Northeast Madison Township

    The CRAWFORD family (1735-1792) 
                         |-James Crawford
     John Crawford---|
                     |-???? ????
    The immigrant ancestor of the Crawford line was JAMES CRAWFORD. His early life is murky, complicated by the fact that there are a lot of Crawfords that immigrated to America in the 18th century (the U.S. census of 1790 lists over 100 Crawford families in Pennsylvania). Family tradition says JAMES came from Ayreshire County in Scotland. But     correspondence around 1908 between a researcher in Cumberland County and Frank B. Crawford, a descendent of JAMES CRAWFORD, shows another possibility: a John Crawford born about 1670 in Scotland migrated to Northern Ireland and had four sons, John, JAMES, Robert, and Hugh. These four brothers came to America about 1728 and located eventually in Hanover township, Lancaster County, which is just east of Harrisburg. There is still no hard evidence to support this, and this could be another James.


    On left: eastern end of Crawford land, looking east along Yellow Breeches Creek
    On right: standing on bridge over Pipkin's Run, looking north at bridge over Yellow Breeches Creek in upper left

    We do know for certain, though, from his Will and Deeds shown below, that our ancestor JAMES was granted land in 1738 on the north bank of Yellow Breeches Creek in what is now Upper Allen Township in Cumberland County, just west of Harrisburg, and lived there the rest of his life. There was a settlement along the Creek called Pippin's tract where Charles Pippin settled. West of Pippin were listed 18 settlers, with J. CRAWFORD the 9th. This area became part of Allen Township. There are a sprinkling of records to give us some indication of JAMES' life in Pennsylvania. First, he must have been reasonably well off when he came to America to be able to afford the land he acquired. In 1742 JAMES CRAWFORD helped lay out a road across Yellow Breeches Creek at Lisburn.


    1743 and 1752 surveys of the Crawford land on both sides of Yellow Breeches Creek, with a modern aereal view showing the three Crawford parcels in orange.

    There is no record of his marriage, nor the name of his wife, but the marriage was probably around 1747 since his oldest son William was born around 1748 or 1749. The other five children were probably born as follows: Robert 1753/1754; Mary 1755; James 1756/1757; John 1758/1759; and Eleanor 1760. The Indian War probably did not affect the Crawford family directly, since the Indians rarely came south of the mountain ridges into the Cumberland Valley. JAMES is listed in the tax records of Allen Township throughout the 1760s and 1770s, e.g. in 1771 he had 100 acres patented, 50 acres cleared, 4 horses, 5 cows, and 20 sheep. JAMES died in 1775 leaving a will that gave daughter Mary White 14 pounds; daughter Elenor 20 pounds when she turned 18 and 80 pounds when she turned 21; son William 50 pounds for all of his support to the family; and the remainder of his real and personal estate equally divided to his four sons: William, Robert, James, and JOHN.


    On the left is the 1782 tax list for Cumberland County.
    In the middle is the 1775 will of James Crawford.
    On the right is the back of the will.
    This will is in the Court House in Carlisle, stuffed in a small envelope. It is old and brittle, and is held together by tape that is also yellowing with age. I would guess that the tape was put on during the early 1900s when Frank B. Crawford was researching his Crawford ancestors. But even though it is in sad shape, it gave me a thrill to see it.

    The land the Crawfords lived on was and still is beautiful. JAMES was given a warrant for the land north of the creek from the land office on October 20, 1738, it was surveyed in 1743, and the patent was granted June 6, 1761. In 1739 he bought an adjacent 130 acre parcel for 20 pounds. JAMES bought another tract of land on the south bank of Yellow Breeches Creek in Monaghan Township in York County in 1752. The four sons sold most of the land to John Baughman and Jacob Eversolle on May 20, 1783. But James and JOHN bought the land back from Baughman and Eversolle on May 26, 1788, and then sold all of the land to Archibald McGrew on Sept 24, 1791 for 700 pounds. William and Robert moved from north of Yellow Breeches Creek to south of the Creek sometime around 1785, and by 1789 to Augusta County, Virginia. James moved to York town around 1788, married Ann Jameson, became a doctor, and moved to Strasburg, Virginia about 1795. In 1807 he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he died in 1812. JOHN must have joined the army about the time James married, because he is later called Captain, and in 1792 "JNO. CRAWFORD of Ft. Pitt" married MARTHA ROBISON. The newly married couple then moved to Kentucky (read more about them in the Kentucky chapter).


    1783 and 1791 Deeds whereby Crawford sons sold the Crawford land along Yellow Breeches Creek.

    Just to complicate things, the records show James Crawford obtained land along the Susquehanna River in 1738, which he did not prove and which reverted to a James Chambers. This could be our ancestor James, or it could be another James entirely. There was also a William Crawford who obtained land next to James Crawford in 1751 (but no indication of which township). This date seems too early to be JAMES' oldest son William, who bought 113 acres adjacent to the west of his father's land on Sept. 24, 1777 for 720 pounds. William and his wife Margaret then sold this land on May 3, 1783 to James McNickle for 150 pounds. William and his wife Margaret also signed the May 20, 1783 deed mentioned above. However on June 12, 1783 (just 3 weeks later) the Orphans Court held at Chambersburg recorded that Robert Gillespie and his wife Margaret, late Margaret Crawford, appeared concerning the estate of William Crawford, deceased. Three weeks seems too soon for William to suddenly die and Margaret remarry; so this must have been some other William and Margaret! Further research is needed to figure out who all the Crawfords were during this time in Cumberland County (or for all of Pennsylvania for that matter).

    The DONNOHUE family (1765-by 1797) 
                               |-Joseph O'Donnohue
    Joseph Daniel Donnohue-|
                           |-Eliza Norton
    JOSEPH O'DONNOHUE, an immigrant from Sligo City, Ireland, came first to Canada, then in 1765 to Pennsylvania, where he dropped the "O'" from his name. In 1770 he married Eliza Norton of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which is northeast of Philadelphia. They had three sons and three daughters, probably all born in Pennsylvania, including JOSEPH DANIEL DONNOHUE born in 1776. The family moved to Missouri by 1797, and we know nothing more about their life in Pennsylvania. (See the Missouri Chapter for more on the Donnohue family.)

    The ROBINSON family (1730-1797) 
                                                            |-Thomas Robinson
                                      |-Philip Robinson-|
                    |-George Robinson-|                 
    Martha Robinson-|                 
                    |-Ann Wiley
    The Robinson family has a similar story to the Crawford family, but with a little more documentation and a larger contingent of immigrants. The immigrant ancestor of the Robinson family, THOMAS ROBINSON, was likewise a Scotch-Irish who came to America prior to 1730. An unconfirmed web site says he was born in Scotland on March 21, 1675, moved with his family to Ireland in 1689, married SARAH GILBERT on April 3, 1697, and had one daughter and six sons, all born in Ireland.

    THOMAS and his sons and their families settled in Lancaster Co, Pennsylvania. There is no record of SARAH in America, so she might have already died in Ireland. Three of his sons (Andrew b. 1700, William b. 1703, and Richard b. about 1710) located in Derry township, while the other sons (oldest son PHILIP b. 1698, and youngest sons Samuel b. about 1715, and Thomas b. about 1720) located in the adjoining township of Hanover. THOMAS was said to have settled near Conewago creek (southeast of Harrisburg), and died by 1740, probably with his sons in Hanover township.

    PHILIP, the oldest son, had a large family of seven sons and one daughter. The first three sons (Samuel b. 1723, Thomas b. 1725, and GEORGE b. 1727) were all born in Ireland, while the last two children (Agnes b. 1730 and Sarah b. 1732) were born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is not known whether the three middle sons (William, Robert, and James) were born in Ireland or America. It is also not known who PHILIP's wife was, but she must have died in America. PHILIP appeared on the first tax list of Hanover township. He settled on Manada creek where it cuts through the southern-most mountain ridge in what is called Manada Gap. PHILIP was given a warrant for land near the head of Bow Creek on Nov 29, 1744. It was surveyed Feb 24, 1746, and a patent granted Nov 14, 1767 [8]. His son Samuel, ran a mill on Manada Creek, three miles south of Manada Gap at Manada Hill, for which he was warranted the land Aug 8, 1743.

    Both locations were used during the French and Indian Wars as forts. An official letter pertaining to gunpowder for the fort was addressed to Samuel Robinson. Another letter from an Adam Read to Mr. Shippen in 1756 [7] mentions the Robinson home: "Last Saturday evening an Indian came to the house of Philip Robeson, carrying a green bush before him, said Robeson's son being on the corner of his fort watching others that were dressing flesh [with] him. The Indian, perceiving that he was observed fled. The watchman fired but missed him; this being three-quarters of a mile from Manady [Manada] Fort; and yesterday morning, two miles from Smith's Fort, at Swatawro [Swatara], in Bethel Township, as Jacob Fornwal was going from the house of Jacob Meyler to his own, was fired upon by two Indians and wounded, but escaped with his life, and a little after, in the said township, as Frederick Henley and Peter Stample were carrying away their goods in wagons, were met by a parcel of Indians and all killed, five lying dead in one place and one man at a little distance, but what more is done is not come to my hand as yet, but that the Indians were continuing their murders...."

    The journal of Capt. James Patterson dated December 1757 mentions Samuel's mill: "Upon his arrival at Fort Swatara he reviewed the garrison, inspected the fort and its stores, and gave orders for a sergeant and twelve men to be always out on the scout towards Crawford's, near Manada Gap. On Tuesday, February 21st, the country people came in according to appointment, when, after hearing their statement, he promised to station an officer and 25 men at Robertson's Mill "situated in the center between the forts, Swatara and Hunter," which gave the people content." [Note this might be refering to one of the Crawford brothers that located in Hanover township as mentioned above.]


    Map showing some of the forts in Dauphin County. "Brown's Fort" was misnamed; it is where PHILIP ROBINSON lived. Samuel Robinson had his mill fort about 2 miles south of Manada Fort. Note the old stone house of John Crawford.

    PHILIP died in 1770 in Dauphin County after the Indian hostilities had ended. The son we are interested in is GEORGE, who married Mary Martin about 1745, and had 5 daughters and 2 sons. Around 1753 GEORGE and his growing family left Manada Gap and moved to Shearmans Valley in Cumberland County, to the west of the Susquehanna River and north of the first mountain ridges. This area was on the edge of the frontier, and was susceptible to Indian attacks. In 1755 GEORGE built a fort on his land, which was centrally located in the valley on high ground above Bixler's Run [creek] with views in all directions. The fort was not an official government edifice, but rather one built by the settlers for their own protection. It was probably a log block-house surrounded by a stockade.

    Archibald Loudon's book of Narratives [9] contains several accounts told him by Robert Robinson, brother of GEORGE, concerning himself and three other brothers: James, William, and Thomas. Robert's eye-witness accounts give us an indication of the dangers the Robinsons went through. The Indians first attacked another nearby fort called McCord's Fort, where they killed some and captured others prisoners. Robert and James joined a group from Fort Littleton to try to rescue the captives. In the following skirmish, James was killed. In 1756 the Indians attacked Fort Robinson while the men were out in the fields, killing three women and kidnapping a boy and a girl. In that same year, all of the inhabitants of the valley were gathered at the fort except for the Woolcomber family. The Indians found the family at home, and killed all but one boy who escaped to the fort. Forty men went out of the fort to help bury the dead, which gives an indication of how large the fort must have been to hold 40 men plus their families. In 1763 trouble flared up again when the Indians attacked farms north of the Robinsons during harvest time. Twelve men headed out from Fort Robinson to help; five of the twelve were killed, including William and Thomas Robinson. Another casulty around this time was one of GEORGE's good friends and neighbor, Alexander Logan, who was killed in his home. Alexander had written a will a year earlier, in which he named GEORGE to be the executor and the guardian of his children.

    GEORGE was said to have been in a field plowing when somebody reported that the Indians were near [6]. "He instantly detached his horses from the plough, placed his wife on one, with her child, an infant of three days, in her arms, and mounting the other they fled over the Kittochtinny mountains to Carlisle, a distance of nearly twenty miles." It is not said how long they stayed away. They were certainly not alone; in 1763, there were 1384 refuges at Shippensburg, just to the southwest of Carlisle; every dwelling, barn, and stable was crowded with people.

    In 1924 the Historical Society of Perry County erected a stone marker at the Fort Robinson site to commemorate what had been a vital element of the county's colonial history. A small book was put together by D. A. Kline of his speech at the ceremony and the history of the fort [10]. No physical remains of the fort now exists, other than the stone marker, although the historical society has performed several digs from 2010-2015 to try to find the post holes. Also Roy F. Chandler wrote a novel about the fort and Indian War, called "Fort Robinson". His novel includes all of the known events that happened at and near the fort, and though the genealogy has some errors, the book gives a pretty good account of what living conditions were like in that time.

    Peace returned to Shearman's Valley. GEORGE's first wife died sometime after their last child was born about 1760. By 1768 he married ANN WILEY, and had three more children including MARTHA. GEORGE served as a magistrate between 1763 and 1776. In the Revolutionary War he was a Captain, 4th PA Battalion under Lt. Col Frederick Watts. He fought in the Battle of Trenton Dec 26, 1776 and the Battle of Princeton on Jan 3, 1777. He was stationed to scout and guard against foraging parties. After the War, we can presume he carried on the quiet life of a farmer. Sherman's Valley is still lightly populated with the land being used as farms. GEORGE was also an elder of the Centre Presbyterian Church, organized in 1766, which is situated on land at the edge of GEORGE's farm. Some of GEORGE's sons moved to Scott County, Kentucky by 1785, and GEORGE finally followed in 1797. Read more about him in the chapter on Kentucky.

    The last of our Robinson ancestors was MARTHA, born about 1768. She grew up on the Robinson farm in a large family; not only did she have nine siblings, but there were also at least three Logan children who presumbably also lived with them. Her father left for a time when he served in the Revolutionary War, but the Robinson farm would have been far from any fighting. In 1792 MARTHA married JOHN CRAWFORD, and the couple moved to Kentucky. We must ask the question, how did MARTHA and JOHN meet? One grew up in Perry County, the other in Cumberland County, 30 miles apart over a mountain ridge. The answer might lie in Dauphin County. MARTHA's grandfather, PHILIP, lived there along with her uncle Samuel Robinson. Within a couple miles of the two Robinson households lived a John Crawford [7], who was probably JOHN's uncle. So the Crawford and Robinson families probably knew each other for 50 years before MARTHA and JOHN were married. Read more about them in the Kentucky chapter).

    Bibliography: