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Hugh McGough, Soldier in
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Hugh McGough, Soldier in
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Hugh McGough was a soldier—and a good one— in the Pennsylvania Line in the early years of the Revolutionary War. He was among 79 men who enlisted as privates in Captain John Marshall's Pennsylvania Rifle Company in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in March, April and May of 1776. Hugh McGough enlisted on April 15, 1776, and within a year had been promoted to Sergeant. His home at the time of enlistment was in the Deer Creek Upper Hundred on the northern boundary of Harford county, Maryland, and on the southern boundary of Pennsylvania. (Harford county was formed from part of Baltimore county in 1773.) At its northeastern tip, Harford county, Maryland, touches the southwestern tip of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
Hugh McGough is on the list of taxable persons in the Deer Creek Upper Hundred in 1775. Early Harford Countians—Individuals Living in Harford County, Maryland, In Its Formative Years, volume 3: Supplement, by Henry C. Peden, Jr. (Willow Bend Books, Westminster Maryland, 1999), page 560.
Before joining Captain Marshall's Pennsylvania Rifle Company, Hugh McGough had been a private in Captain William Webb's Company of the Maryland Militia. since October 14, 1775. All able-bodied men in Maryland over 16 years of age and under 50 were required to join a militia company in 1775. No member of a Maryland militia company could leave to join another company without his captain's permission. In 1776, Hugh McGough may have obtained permission to join another company, since the Maryland militia company had a surplus of privates, and was never called to active service.
Hugh McGough reported to the first assembly of Captain Marshall's Pennsylvania Rifle Company at the Cross Roads in Drumore township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on May 27, 1776. The Cross Roads was probably at the town of Buck, Pennsylvania, which is about 11 miles due north of the point in the middle of the Susquehanna River on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border where the corners of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and Harford county, Maryland, touch each other. To locate Lancaster county in Pennsylvania, see US census map of Pennsylvania counties. A map showing the location of the township of Drumore in southern Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, is on the website of the Southern Lancaster County Historical Society. See also Lancaster County Pennsylvania Township Maps.
From the place of assembly at the Cross Roads in Drumore township, Captain Marshall's company marched about 50 miles east to Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River in Chester county (now Delaware county), where on May 30, 1776, the company joined its parent organization, Colonel Samuel Miles' Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment. Colonel Miles had been appointed to command the newly organized Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment on March 13, 1776. He remained in command until he was taken prisoner at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. On this page, I attempt to trace several changes of name and consolidations the history of Captain John Marshall's company and Colonel Samuel Miles' regiment during the Revolutionary War.
Sergeant Hugh McGough maintained an orderly book within the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot from May 10, 1777, to August 16, 1777. The Historical Resources Branch, US Army Center of Military History, The Continental Army, Bibliography, Pennsylvania, lists the document this way:
McGough, Hugh. "Orderly Book of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot, May 10 to August 16, 1777." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 22 (1898), pages 57-70, 196-210, 301-320, 475-478.
Revolutionary War Service Records, 1775–83 on Ancestry.com indexes this record:
Name: HUGH MCGAUGH
Rank - Induction: PRIVATE
Roll Box: 84
Roll Description: PA
Notice that the Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File Indexes in the Pennsylvania State Archives contain two cards for Hugh McGough, but none for a Hugh McGaugh. The reference above should read MCGOUGH. Roll box 84, the reference on the index card, includes a muster roll of Captain John Clark's company for September, 1777, which is image number 215 on Ancestry com's microfilm copy of roll 84 of U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783 > Pennsylvania. (The number at the right edge of the original microfilm is 0130.) The title of the handwritten report is: "A Muster Roll of Capt. Jn. Clark's Comp. ... of Col. Walter Stewart Rgt. for the ninth of Sept. 1777." The third name in the first column of the roster included in the report is "Hugh McGough"—spelled with an o, not an a. The report is in folio 41, which is labeled: 13th Regiment, 1777. Hugh McGough's is one of three unnumbered names at the head of the column, listed as sergeants. The other two are James Sloan† and James Minnis.* After the sergeants' names appear 52 numbered names of privates. The report was signed by Captain John Clark on October 12, 1777.
†"James Sloan (1756-1818) served, 1777, as sergeant in Capt. John Clark's company, 13th Pennsylvania regiment, under Col. Walter Stewart. He was born in Lancaster; died in Kittanning, Pa. Also No. 58633."
*"John Minnis served, 1777, as sergeant in Capt. John Clark's company, 13th Pennsylvania regiment, commanded by Col. Walter Stewart. He was born in Ireland; died, 1838, in Blount County, Tenn." (The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, volume 109, page 271—Mrs. Martha Trotter Gill. DAR ID Number: 108879.)
As far as I can determine, Hugh McGough served his entire period of active Army duty in Captain John Marshall's Company (which became Captain John Clark's Company on February 20, 1777), but his tracks in military records that I have found end shortly after August 16, 1777, the last of the days covered by the available pages of the orderly book he maintained. He does appear on a muster roll of John Clark's company of September, 1777, and signed by Clark on October 12, 1777 (see below). By early 1778, Hugh McGough had returned to Harford county, Maryland. Hugh M. Gough is on the list, submitted early in 1778 by John Archer, of those who took the oath of fidelity and allegiance to Maryland before William Webb, who had died before Archer submitted the list. Hugh McGouch is on the tax list compiled by Constable James Smith of free males 18 years and upward in Deer Creek Middle Hundred in 1778. Both names should be Hugh McGough. There was no separate tax list for Deer Creek Upper Hundred, and several of the names on the 1778 list for Deer Creek Middle Hundred probably lived in the township to the immediate northwest, Deer Creek Upper Hundred.
Circumstantial evidence supports a hypothesis that Hugh McGough was born in Harford county, Maryland, about 1756, and that he was the first-born son of Miles McGough, who was born in Ireland about 1730, and Elizabeth Spencer McGough, who who was born in Harford county about 1730. I explore that possibility in this page and in my separate page: McGoughs in Pre-Revolutionary America: Miles and Elizabeth Spencer McGough. Hugh McGough's wife, Rosanna Crooks, however, was born in 1740, and if my hypothesis is correct, Hugh was about 15 years younger than his wife.
Hugh McGough died in Harford county, Maryland, shortly before October 4, 1779, when his widow, Rosanna (Crooks) McGough, was appointed administratrix of his estate. He may have suffered wounds that hastened his death,in the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, or in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, but this is conjecture on my part. McGough family lore says that a brother of James McGough, the son of Miles McGough (senior), was killed at the Battle of Princeton, but, as indicated by his orderly book, Hugh McGough survived that battle, although he probably fought in it. The lore that a brother of James McGough was killed in the war may contain a kernel of truth, however, despite distortion of the story as it was repeated from generation to generation. The brother may have been Hugh McGough, not his brother Patrick McGough (who was alive in the 1790s), and Hugh McGough may have suffered injury or disease that led to his early death, rather than having been killed outright. He may have been no older than twenty four when he died (although his wife was about 39).
Deer Creek Upper Hundred on Maryland's northern border, north and west of Deer Creek, and one township to the west of the Susquehanna River. For the location of the townships of Harford county, see the 1783 Deer Creek Map of Harford County. See also the maps at Exploring Harford County, Maryland. and Harford County Maps.
The southwestern corner of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, touches the northeastern corner of Harford county, Maryland. The point at which the two counties meet is in the middle of the Susquehanna River where the river crosses the Pennsylvania-Maryland line. The Susquehanna River is the boundary between Harford and Cecil counties in northeastern Maryland. See the Maryland County Selection Map. There is a detailed map of Maryland in the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection of the University of Texas Library. The same site has a good map of Pennsylvania.
The Deer Creek Upper Hundred in Harford county (Baltimore county before 1773) was the home of Miles McGough, who had immigrated from Ireland some time before 1756. He married Elizabeth Spencer in Harford county about 1755. Hugh and Elizabeth Spencer McGough lived in the Deer Creek Upper Hundred, Harford county, from the time of their marriage until their deaths. In Harford county, they raised their children: Hugh McGough (possibly), born about 1756; John McGough, born about 1758; James McGough, born about 1760; Miles McGough (junior), born about 1762; Thomas McGough, born about 1765; and Elizabeth McGough Dempsey, born about 1767. In his will dated May 25, 1784, Miles McGough mentioned his wife Elizabeth, and the four sons and one daughter just named. If my hypothesis is correct, that Hugh McGough was the first born son of Miles McGough (senior) and Elizabeth Spencer, t he had died before Miles McGough made out his will in 1784. For more on the family, see my page: McGoughs in Pre-Revolutionary America: Miles and Elizabeth Spencer McGough.
The Maryland articles of the "Association of Freemen" of 1776 asserted American independence from Great Britain. Those who refused to sign, and thus declare allegiance to the United States of America, became "nonassociators," joining British loyalists and other pacifists (mostly Quakers) who opposed the war. Hugh McGough subscribed to the list of Associators from Deer Creek Upper Hundred in 1776. His name was the fifth on the list. The first four names were officers in Captain William Webb's company of Maryland Militia, almost all of whom were from Deer Creek Upper Hundred. The solicitor of the list, James Barnet, was also a member of Captain Webb's company. See: Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, Volume 1–38, volume 25, number 3, Summer 1984, Men of '76, page 323, on Genealogy.com. Hugh McGough was on the roster of October 14, 1775, of Captain Webb's company.
Hugh McGouch [should be McGough] and William Webb (and Samuel Webb Sr. and Jr., William's father and brother) are on the Harford county, Maryland list of taxable persons in 1778 for "Deer Creek Hundred: Middle," published in the Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, volume 18, number 1, winter 1977, Harford county, Maryland Tax List, page 35 (available on Genealogy.com). Deer Creek Middle Hundred is adjacent to, and south of, Deer Creek Upper Hundred, and the entry indicates that Hugh McGough was considered a taxable person there in 1778.
The Maryland Convention on July 26, 1775, created the he Association of Freemen, which began recruiting troops in December of 1775. When Hugh McGough signed the oath of the Association of Freemen in 1776, he was a member of Captain William Webb's company of the Maryland Militia. William Webb was born in Harford county about 1732 to Samuel Webb (who was born in England in 1704), a tanner, and Jane Weire in Harford county, Maryland (who were married on 21 Oct 1731 in Church of Christ, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and who married Elizabeth Lee (who was born in 1738/1740, in Harford county), on July 12, 1758, in St. George's Parish (Anglican), Harford county, Maryland. He signed the Bush Declaration of 1775, which has been claimed to be the first declaration of independence from Great Britain made by any representative body in America. The Bush Declaration was signed at Bush (or Harford city), Harford county, Maryland, on March 22, 1775 (see below). On Monday, July 31, 1775, Ignatius Wheeler, Junior and William Webb represented Harford county on the Maryland Council of Safety. (Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776, volume 11, page 6.) Both Wheeler and Webb had signed the original document of the Association of the Freemen of Maryland on July 26, 1775. (Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776, volume 11, Page 66.)
In the Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, volume 25, number 3, Summer 1984, Men of '76, page 323, on Genealogy.com, Hugh McGough is listed with fifty other men under: "Deer Creek Upper Hundred." The men were recorded as Associators by James Barnet (spelled Barnett on page 315 of the same Bulletin). (On this list was "John Wilson, Scot'n," probably the father of the Joseph Wilson who solicited another 1776 list of signers from Deer Creek Upper Hundred—upon which were the names of John and Miles McGeaugh.) In a separate list of signers in 1776 of the Maryland Articles of Association, recorded by Joseph Wilson (son of John) and Alexander Rigdon, are the names of John McGeaugh and Miles McGeaugh. My guess is that John and Miles McGeaugh were the brother and father of Hugh McGough. (In later records, the surnames of John and James are spelled McGough.)
The Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, page 150 (also available on Genealogy.com, under "Maryland and Delaware Revolutionary Patriots, 1775-1783 Military Records") lists John McGeaugh and Miles McGeaugh as signers of the "Association of Freeman, Deer Creek Upper (I-322)" and "Hugh McGough, Webb's [Captain William Webb] Co. No. 16, October 14, 1775. (E-121) Signer of Association of Freemen, 1776, Deer Creek Upper. (I-323)."
On April 26, 1776, the Maryland Council of Safety appointed William Webb captain and Ignatius Wheeler 1st Lieutenant of a company of militia in Harford county:
"Also to William Webb appointed Captain Ignatius Wheeler 1 Lt William Fisher 2d Lt and Samuel Webb junior Ensign of a Company of Militia in said County." (Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776, volume 11, page 387.)
On June 29, 1776, a roster of the Harford county Militia companies was submitted to the Maryland Council of Safety, including:
"[List of Harford Militia Companies.] C. S. C.
"A List of the Companies on the North side of Deer Creek in Harford County formed and returned to this Committee :
"Vizt
"Capt William Webb.
Ignatius Wheeler 1 Lieutenant
William Fisher Second Do
Samuel Webb Jun' Ensign
& 74 Privates. Date of Enrolment 14th day of October 1775." (Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776, volume 11, page 537.)
Harford County Revolutionary War list and letters, volume 11, page 538, contains the same List of the Companies on the North side of Deer Creek in Harford County formed and returned to this Committee. Ignatius Wheeler (Ignatius, Benjamin, Thomas, John ), the second in command, was born in 1744. He married Henrietta Maria (Neale) Smith. He died in August of 1793 in Deer Park, Harford county, Maryland. Henrietta died in 1807 in Deer Park, Harford county, Maryland. (This information was published on the no-longer-active website of Christopher Fort and Allied Families.)
On February 5, 1777, the General Assembly of Maryland enacted a law which made it necessary to sign an oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to the state of Maryland and the cause of freedom. These oaths were taken before a magistrate of the county. Maryland Records, Volume II, Oaths of Fidelity and Support, page 236: Maryland Records—Harford County: "A List of those who took, repeated and Subscribed the aforesaid Oath before William Webb Esq. decd." lists "71. Gough, Hugh M." The list was submitted as a "true Copy" by "Jno. Archer." (John Archer (1741–1810) was one of the signers of the Bush Declaration of March 22, 1775. He was captain of Company No. 2 of the Harford County Militia in 1775, and went on to a distinguished political career. He was a physician, a Presbyterian, a Democrat, and served three terms in Congress from 1801 to 1807. See: Archer family of Maryland on The Political Graveyard website.) The oath was administered in 1778 and the list was submitted around February 28, 1778. Revolutionary Patriots Listings of Harford County, Maryland, page 94, repeats the same list and names: "Gough, Hugh M.—Signer Oath of Fidelity and Allegiance to Maryland, 1778 (A-33, B-14, J-236)" This item is found under "Maryland and Delaware Revolutionary Patriots, 1775-1783 Military Records" on Genealogy.com. Hugh M. Gough is the only person on this list with a middle initial, and the name clearly should be Hugh McGough. The conversion of his name to Hugh M. Gough was probably a copying error. This list is evidence that Hugh McGough had returned to the Deer Creek Upper Hundred in Harford county by early 1778.
How could Hugh McGough join Captain Marshall's Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on April 25, 1776, when he had enrolled in Captain William Webb's Harford county militia company by October 14, 1775? Captain William Webb's company had not been activated before April 15, 1776, nor was it ever called to active duty. The rules required each militia company to meet at least one day a week for instruction and the exercise of arms. I do not know if Captain William Webb's company conducted such drills, but Hugh McGough's early promotion to sergeant in Captain John Marshall's Pennsylvania Rifle Company supports the idea that he had previous military training.
The October 14, 1775, roster of Captain William Webb's Company No. 16 included 84 privates and four officers, The Maryland Convention had established an upper limit of 74 privates, and provided that "if a greater number than 74 shall be enrolled in any one Company, then the enrolment of any, after the first 68 effective privates, shall be deemed void; and such shall enrol in some other Company." After enrolment, "no man [was] permitted to leave the Company in which he shall have been enrolled without the consent of his Captain in writing." Captain William Webb's Company, No. 16, October 14, 1775. (E-121). (Deer Creek Upper Hundred). The minutes of the Council of Safety for June 29, 1776, include a report from Captain William Webb's company in which there were 74 privates—the maximum. Perhaps one of the ten privates eliminated from the roster was Hugh McGough who probably had been given permission to join a nearby Pennsylvania company that was already uniformed and equipped and headed for active combat.
Captain Webb's Company was, on paper, part of a planned 8th Battalion of the Maryland Militia, which may have never existed except on paper. William Webb's entry in Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, page 232, says: "Captain, 8th Battalion, Militia, appointed 1776. (E-265, E-267)" The references are to pages 265 and 267 of The History of Harford County, by Walter W. Preston (Baltimore: Press of Sun Book Office, 1901).
Four signers of the Bush Declaration of March 22, 1775, are listed as Captains in the 8th Battalion: William Webb, William Morgan, John Patrick, and Alexander Rigdon. Also listed as Captains were Robert Glenn and John Jolly. William Morgan (1744-1795) is listed as a captain in the Deer Creek Battalion on April 9, 1778 and was a signer (and solicitor) of the Articles of Association in 1776 in the Deer Creek Lower Hundred. John Patrick (1735–1805) was captain of company number 17 of the Harford Militia on April 1, 1776, and a captain in the Deer Creek Battalion of the Maryland Militia in 1778. He was a signer and solicitor of the Articles of Association in the Deer Creek Lower Hundred in 1776. Alexander Rigdon (1742-1820) was the captain of company No. 12 of the Harford Militia on December 2, 1775, and a lieutenant colonel in the Deer Creek Battalion Militia, Harford county, 1778. He was a signer and solicitor of the Articles of Association in Deer Creek in 1776. [Reverend John Reeder Keech conducted the funeral of "Colonel Rigdon" in Harford county on April 25, 1820, probably in Christ's Church. volume 21, number 1, Winter 1980, Pastoral Records of Rev. Keech (cont.), page 57, on Genealogy.com.]. John Jolly (Jolley) is listed as a captain of the Deer Creek Battalion on March 10, 1775, and a signer of the Association of Freemen in Deer Creek Lower Hundred in 1776. Robert Glenn (1722–1799) is listed as a captain in the Harford County Militia Company in 1775 and 1776, a major in the Deer Creek Battalion in 1778, and a signer of the Association of Freemen in Bush Creek Upper Hundred in 1775. For more on John Jolley, see Grassland Hall on the Dublin, Maryland, website.
The Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, January 1-March 20, 1777, volume 16, pages 129–130, contains this letter of February 10, 1777, from Andrew Buchanan of Baltimore to the Maryland Council of Safety (I have added some paragraphing). At the time he wrote this letter, Buchanan was a Brigadier General of the Maryland Militia.
"Baltimore County Feby 10th 1777.
"Gentlemen.
"Their are in Harford County over Deer Creek, six companies of Militia, viz. Captains William Webb, William Morgan, John Partrick [should be Patrick], Jno. Jolley, Alex. Rigdon, and Robt Glen not yet formed into Battalion. They have had several meetings in order to recommend the necessary Field officers, but the consequence has been uproar and contention, and from the best information I can collect they never will agree.
"As the appointment is in the Council of Safety, or Assembly it would be well to appoint their officers immediately, or make them independant companies. The following commissions are wanting in Colo Hall's Battalion, viz for Capt. Jno. Ashmead, Edw. Bussey, 2nd Lieut. Nathaniel West, Ensign, Mathew McClintick 1st Lieut, James Walker 2nd Lieut.
"The eighth Battalion hath had a meeting in order to recommend their field officers but a quarrel ensued which prevented that business being accomplished. In short the militia in my District had rather battle at home than abroad. I see but little probability of their marching. Their are a few in several Battalions, that offer themselves but only on condition that the whole are compel'd, a great majority in each Battalion against marching so that their is not strength enough in any one to carry the whole.
"What method to fall upon I am greatly at a loss, and must submit the mode to the Council of Safety and the Legislature.
"I am Gent. Your most obedt Servt
"And. Buchanan.
"The Honble Council of Safety Annapolis"
Andrew Buchanan was a general in the Maryland Militia when he wrote this letter, and a merchant in Baltimore with a store on Calvert Street. Here is a note from the Buchanan/Bohanan genealogy site:
"Andrew Buchanan, Sr. was born 22 October 1734 in St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore Co., Maryland, and died 12 March 1786. He married Susanna Lawson 20 July 1760 (other sources say July 24, 1760, in Baltimore town), daughter of Alexander Lawson and Dorothy Smith. She was born 1743 in Baltimore Co., Maryland, and died 26 August 1798.
"Notes on Andrew Buchanan:
"Andrew Buchanan was a merchant and attorney as well as a very patriotic Baltimorean. He served on many committees:
13 March 1775: Baltimore County Committee of Inspection.
21 August 1775: Association of Freeman, representing the Westminster Hundred
23 September 1775: Committee of Observation
12 November 1775: Committee of Correspondence
May 1776: The Baltimore Committee
19 December 1775: Captain of the Baltimore County Militia, 1st Company
6 January 1776: Listed as Brigadier General in the Maryland Militia
2 September 1776: Committee of Safety.
1776 - 1777: County Lieutenant of Baltimore County
1777 - 1779: Justice of the Orphan's Count
6 January 1778: Lieutenant Colonel in Pulaski's Legion, Justice of the Peace for Baltimore
2 September 1778: Signed the Oath of Allegiance"
Buchanan was an elected captain of Company No. 1 of the Baltimore county militia on December 19, 1775, with 63 privates under his command.
Buchanan was chairman of the Baltimore Committee of Observation in 1774:
"When oppression began to awaken a spirit of general resistance throughout the colonies, "Baltimore towne" was not behind its sister communities in zeal and action. A meeting was held there in 1774 [May 27.], [8] when the people generally agreed to support non-intercourse measures. Afterward they elected a Committee of Observation [November 12.], [9] and also appointed a committee of correspondence. [10]"
"8 Andrew Buchanan was chosen chairman, and Robert Alexander clerk or secretary.
"9 This committee, consisting of twenty-nine of the leading men of Baltimore, was elected by the qualified voters, at a town meeting, regularly assembled at the court-house. They not only took cognizance of political matters, but assumed a general supervision of the public morals, not by coercive measures, but by advice. Among other things, they recommended the discontinuance of fairs in Baltimore, and denounced them as nuisances, conducive to 'mischiefs and disorders,' '"serving no other purpose than debauching the morals of their children and servants,' and 'encouraging riots, drunkenness, gaming, and the vilest immoralities.' Horse-racing, cock-fighting, general extravagance, and dissipation were inveighed against, not only as wrong, but as derogatory to the character of patriots at that solemn hour (1775).
"10 The following are the names of this committee: Robert Alexander, Samuel Purviance, Jr., Andrew Buchanan, Doctor John Boyd, John Moale, Jeremiah Townly Chase, William Buchanan, and William Lux. Four members constituted a quorum for the transaction of business." (Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, volume II, by Benson J. Lossing, chapter VII.)
Here is an excerpt from the Chronicles of Baltimore - Part 7:
"On the 12th of March, 1786, died at his residence in the county, Andrew Buchanan, many years Presiding Justice of the County Court, General of the militia, and a most meretorious citizen and merchant of Baltimore."
William Webb must have been in the middle of the argument about organizing into a battalion his and the other companies named by Andrew Buchanan in his letter of February 10, 1777. William Webb's summary of service during the Revolutionary War includes this entry: "Captain 8th Battalion Militia, appointed 1776." (Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, page 232, on Genealogy.com.) The same source lists Ignatius Wheeler, Jr., as a first lieutenant in both Captain Webb's Company No. 16 (October 14th, 1775) and the 8th Battalion (1776). Wheeler is also listed as a Colonel in the Deer Creek Battalion, Maryland Militia, as of April 9, 1778.
On June 4, 1777, the Maryland Council of Safety appointed William Webb a Justice of the Orphans Court in Harford county. (Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, January 1-March 20, 1777, volume 16, page 274.) William Webb died in early 1778. The administrator's bond of his estate was filed in Harford county on May 26, 1778. He was a Justice of the Peace; he verified a report of the census of people in the Deer Creek Lower Hundred on May 3, 1777. (Maryland Records, Volume II, Census of 1776, page 167.) He is shown as deceased in a return in March (or thereabouts) of 1778 of a list by John Archer, of men who took the oath of allegiance before William Webb. "1778—A List of persons in Harford County who have taken the following oath before the Different magistrates as mentioned below and returned by them to Harford County Court." (Maryland Records, Volume II, Oaths of Fidelity and Support, page 235.)
On April 9, 1778, the Maryland Council of Safety requested the Maryland Assembly to appoint and commission militia officers for Harford county, including Colonel Ignatius Wheeler, Major William Fisher, and Capt. Samuel Webb, the number 2, 3 and 4 officers under Captain William Webb when Webb's militia company was formed—on paper—on October 14, 1775. William Webb is absent from the list, and I assume either that he had died or that his health was too poor to allow him to serve. (Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, April 1, 1778 through October 26, 1779, volume 21, page 22.) (He died before May 26, 1788.) For more on the family history of William Webb, see Terry Mason's Family History Site.
Another person who enlisted in Captain William Webb's company on October 14, 1775, signed the oath of the Association of Freemen in 1776 in Deer Creek Upper Hundred, and held in an interest in land ("a tithable over the age of 18") in Deer Creek Middle Hundred in 1778, is John Barnhouse. John Barnhouse is on the same list, solicited by James Barnet, of persons who took the oath of the Association of Freemen as is Hugh McGough. See Barnhouse Branches—The Records Archive. On April 1, 1786, John Barnhouse of Harford county had a four year old apprentice bound to him to learn the shoemaker's trade.
Another person on the list of signers of the Association of Freemen compiled by James Barnet in 1776, and who had joined Captain William Webb's company on October 14, 1775, was Hugh Whiteford to whom Elizabeth McGough and her sons deeded 25 acres of the McGough family estate in Harford county on October 7, 1788, after the death of Miles McGough in 1884 (see above). See Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, page 238, under Maryland and Delaware Revolutionary Patriots, 1775–1783, Military Records, on Genealogy.com.
On April 15, 1776, Hugh McGough enlisted in Captain John Marshall's Pennsylvania Rifle Company in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Another man from Harford county and Captain William Webb's company who joined Captain Marshall's company at about the same time was Patrick Halfpenny, who enlisted on April 11, 1776. Another possibility is John Beaver, who enlisted on April 24, 1776, in Captain Marshall's company. There was a John Wilson on the roster of Captain Webb's company on October 14, 1775. Cary McClelland, who was also from Harford county, enlisted in Captain Marshall's company on April 18, 1776. His name appears on the roster as Kerry McClellan. There is also a possibility, though faint, that the John Wilson who enlisted in Captain John Marshall's company on March 23, 1776, was the same John Wilson who was from Deer Creek Upper Hundred, Harford county. See the next section.
A great source of records of Maryland during the Revolutionary War is Archives of Maryland Online. From this source and other, I have prepared an annotated roster of Captain William Webb's Company as originally submitted on October 14, 1775, a list of other militia companies formed in Harford county, Maryland, and some notes on minutemen and battalion organization. That material is in the last section of this page: Notes on Harford County, Maryland, in the Revolutionary War.
The roster of Captain John Marshall's Company published in Egles Notes and Queries of Pennsylvania, 1700s–1800s (volume II, chapter XXIII, page 133), shows the officers of the company as Captain—John Marshall, appointed March 7, 1776; First Lieutenant—John Clark, appointed March 15, 1776, promoted captain, February 20, 1777; Second Lieutenant—Thomas Gourley, appointed March 19, 1776, promoted first lieutenant in Ninth Pennsylvania, December 6, 1776; Third Lieutenant—Stephen Hannah, appointed March 19, 1776; promoted second lieutenant, but declined service.
John Clark took over command of the company about the time he was promoted to captain on February 20, 1777, and afterwards the company was often referred to as Captain Clark's Company. [Captain John Marshall was the father of Isabel Marshall. Isabel's biography says that her father was commissioned as captain in General Miles' regiment, serving with that organization two months, nineteen days, and later was commissioned captain in Colonel Walter Stewart's Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regulars. He fought in the battle of Brandywine, where he was wounded. He was retired in December, 1778, and was given a pension May 8, 1818. He died upon the Marshall homestead in Richland County, Ohio, and is buried in a private cemetery on that homestead.]
The sergeants listed for in the roll of Captain John Marshall's company are: James McMichael, April 22, 1776, promoted Lieutenant in Pennsylvania's State Regiment; Timothy Douglas, March 17, 1776; Edward Speer, March 19, 1776; John Herron*, April 6, 1776; and James Criswell+. Drum and Fife was John Campbell, who is also listed as a private who enlisted on April 18, 1776 and has this note after his name on the roll: "missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776."
[*A John Herron, born in 1750 (or 1747 according to other sources), died October 15, 1815, is buried in the Upper Graveyard of Middle Springs Church, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania; he married Mary Jack of Big Springs, Cumberland county, on March 16, 1773; he died at the homestead on a creek called Herron's Branch near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania that he had inherited from his father, Francis Herron (who had married Mary McNutt). The Herron family had originally settled in Pequea, Lancaster county, when they immigrated from county Antrim, Ireland, to the US in 1743, and moved to Cumberland (another sources says Franklin) county in 1745. Egle's Notes and Queries of Pennsylvania, 1700s–1800s, Annual Volume 1897, Notes and Queries—XXXIII, page 176. A biography of this family says that John Herron's brother, James, joined the Continental Army and rose to rank of major, but there is no mention of military service by John. Colonial & Revolutionary Families, volume II, John W. Herron, page 894. The family was large, and this John Herron may be a member of it.]
[+James Criswell enlisted as a private on March 18, 1776, and was promoted to sergeant before the roll was prepared. The card index in the Pennsylvania Archives shows James Criswell as a sergeant under the command of Captain John Marshal (sic) in the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, with service of July 1, 1776 to August 1, 1776, citing a morning report of Captain Marshal's company of August 1, 1776, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey. This may be the James Creswell of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who later married into the Johnson family. The family history says he served in Captain John Ramsey's company of the Pennsylvania Militia. I found no other card in the Pennsylvania State Archives that might match.
"John [Johnson] and Jean's daughter Mary [Johnson] married James Creswell in 1779. James was born in 1743 in Port Deposit, Maryland. He served as a private in Captain John Ramsey's* Company, 2nd Battalion, of the Chester County, Pennsylvania Militia. Mary and James made their home in Lancaster County and later moved to Brooke County, Virginia where he died in 1816 and she in 1823." The Johnson Family Book 2—Johnsons of St. George, Georgia, by Viva Jean Johnson Outterson; chapter 2, pages 21–46: The Johnsons of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.]
*"John Ramsey, Jr., Revolutionary War Veteran was born in 1718 in Pennsylvania. He died in 1805 in Columbia Co. GA. He married Johanna Stewart on 1 Dec 1744 in St George's Parish, Old Baltimore County (later Harford Co). ... St. George's Parish was bounded on the east and south by the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay, on the west by Bush River and its headwaters, and on the north by Pennsylvania, constituting the upper two thirds of what became Harford County, Maryland." Captain John Ramsey's company has been refered to as part of the Chester County Militia. (see John Logue, Sr. private.) "
"From The Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, volume 5, Ppg 463:
'Muster roll of Captain Ramsey's Company, of the 1st Class of Chester County Militia, in the service of the United States, Commanded by Colonel John Hannum, Entered the Service the 18th of June 1777.'
"This muster roll includes the name "Saml. McNeal, June 18, 1777" [He enlisted on June 18, 1777, and is shown as on active duty by a muster report of July 11, 1777.]
The abstract card for Captain John Ramsey in the Pennsylvania State Archives shows that, May 5, 1777, he was elected captain of the 1st company, 2nd battalion (under Colonel Evans) of the Chester county Militia.
James McMichael was a native of Scotland and a resident of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, when he joined Captain Marshall's company as a sergeant on March 15, 1776. The morning report of Captain Marshall's Company at Marcus Hook on June 1, 1776, lists McMichael as First Sergeant (and his enlistment date as April 22, 1776). McMichael was promoted to second lieutenant in March, 1777, shortly after Captain John Clark took command of the company. He was promoted to first lieutenant on June 20, 1777. Clark served throughout the Revolutionary War and was discharged in 1883. kept a diary during the whole period of his service with the army, but the only part that remains covers 1776, 1777, and the early part of 1778—until General George Washington left Valley Forge. The diary is invaluable in reconstructing the history of Captain Marshall's company. The Historical Resources Branch, US Army Center of Military History, The Continental Army, Bibliography, Pennsylvania, lists the diary this way:
McMichael, James. "Diary of Lieutenant James McMichael, of the Pennsylvania Line, 1776-1778." Edited by William P. McMichael. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 16 (1892), pages 129-159. [Also printed in Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Ser., 15, pages 193-218.]
Among the 78 privates listed in the Roll of Captain John Marshall's Company is Hugh McGouch, who enlisted on April 15, 1776. McGouch is a typographical error. The name is shown as Hugh McGough in the Pennsylvania State Archives and morning reports of the company. (I do not count as a private James Criswell because he is also listed as a sergeant, but I do count John Campbell even though he is also listed under Drum and Fife.)
The Pennsylvania State Archives include an Archives Records Information Access System (ARIAS) that allows easy access to the digitized Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File. The abstract card file contains transcriptions of data extracted from original records in the custody of the state archives concerning Revolutionary War service in the Pennsylvania Militia, Pennsylvania Line, and the Navy. There are two cards for Hugh McGough. The first card lists him as a private in the company of Captain John Marshall of the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment and an enlistment date of April 15, 1776. The source is the morning report of Captain Marshall's Company at Marcus Hook on June 1, 1776. The second card for Hugh McGough shows him as a sergeant in the Company of Captain John Clark, Pennsylvania State Regiment. The sources are morning reports of Captain Clark's Company in March and April, 1777. None of the documents show a term of enlistment.
Three other privates who enlisted in Captain John Marshall's company at about the same time as Hugh McGough were from Harford county, Maryland: Patrick Halfpenny, who enlisted on April 11, 1776; Kerry McClellan (also known as Cary McClelland), who enlisted on April 18, 1776; and John Beaver, who enlisted on April 24,1776. Patrick Halfpenny and John Beaver, both of the Deer Creek Upper Hundred, signed the Maryland Articles of Association in 1776 and, along with Hugh McGough, both enrolled in Captain Webb's Company number 16 on October 14, 1775. (Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, pages 16 and 98, on Genealogy.com). Cary McClelland was also from Harford county, Maryland. There is more information on Patrick Halfpenny and Cary McClelland below. We may be talking about two John Beavers. There is a Private John Beaver who enlisted on June 1, 1778, and was discharged on February 13, 1779, listed on Muster Rolls & Other Records of Service, "Musters of Maryland Troops," volume I, page 86, on Genealogy.com., who may be the John Beaver from Deer Creek Upper Hundred, and not the John Beaver who enrolled in Captain John Marshall's Company.
A James Burk enlisted in Captain John Marshall's company on April 12, 1775. On the Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, page 31, James Burk is described as "Pensioner (maimed soldier), 1778. (F=661)." There are, however, several James Burks on the rolls of Pennsylvania and Maryland revolutionary soldiers.
A John Wilson enlisted in Captain John Marshall's company on March 23, 1776. A John Wilson had signed the list, collected by Joseph Wilson (son of John) and Alexander Rigdon, of Associators for the Deer Creek Upper Hundred in 1776 (volume 25, number 3, Summer 1984, Men of '76, page 322). This is the same list signed by "John McGeaugh" and "Miles McGeaugh." His name appears on the list as "John Wilson, Scot'n." The name is too common, however, to require a conclusion that the two John Wilsons were the same person. A John Wilson is on the Muster Roll of Capt. Alexander Lawson Smith's Company, Fourth Maryland Regiment. A John Wilson is listed as holding five tracts of land land in the Deer Creek Upper Hundred, and tracts in the Deer Creek Middle Hundred and Gunpowder Upper and Gunpowder Lower Hundred and Susquehanna Hundred; and John Wilson, Sr., and John Wilson, Jr., are listed as holding land in the Bush River Lower Hundred, in the assessment of 1783 of Harford county. There are several John Wilsons on the rolls of Maryland revolutionary soldiers.
John Delaney enlisted in Captain John Marshall's Company on April 18, 1775, the same day Cary McClelland enlisted. Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, page 62, lists:
"Delaney (Deleney), John.
"Born 1740. Private, Maryland Line
"Signer, Association of Freemen, 1776, Deer Creek Upper.
"Land warrant No. 1343, 100 acres, applied July 31, 1828.
"Pay Certificates: 82088, $43.30, 2d Md. Regt. monthly pay; 85314, $80, Md. Regt. paid to January , 1782; 86667, $80, Md. Regt. paid to Jan. 1, 1873; 93081, $80, 4th Md. Regt. paid to Nov. 16, 1783. (I-323, N-18, N-62, P-141)"
The preamble to the publication of the Roll of Captain John Marshall's Company in Egles Notes and Queries of Pennsylvania, 1700s–1800s, is under the heading "Dauphin County in the Revolution." By an act of the Pennsylvania General Assembly of March 4, 1785, Dauphin County was created out of the northern part of Lancaster county. The county was named "Dauphin," in honor of the eldest son of the King of France, who had come to the aid of the American colonies during the American Revolution. In 1791, its county seat was named "Harrisburg," after a brief stint as "Louisbourg" in honor of the French King Louis. See Dauphin County History. Since Captain Marshall's company was organized in what was then Lancaster county, many enlistees were residents of what remained Lancaster county, and a few were from Harford county, Maryland, to the south, it is less confusing to call the company a Lancaster county company rather than a Dauphin county company. I quote, nonetheless, the preamble referred to above:
"Dauphin County in the Revolution
'In Col. Samuel Miles; Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment of the Revolution were two Dauphin (then Lancaster) county companies, those of Captains John Murray and John Marshall.
"Capt. John Marshall, who commanded the Hanover company, was a native of Ireland, but he came to America and settled in Hanover township about 1770. He was an early associator and in March, 1776, was commissioned captain of the company raised by him. At the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776, the company, like the battalion, was badly broken up. Owing to injuries received in that conflict Capt. Marshall resigned in February following. After the close of the Revolution he removed with many of his Hanover neighbors to Washington county, Pa., where he died. He was on the Pennsylvania pension list as late as 1820."
Colonel Samuel Miles' Rifle Regiment was also known as the 7th Rifle Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line. The orderly book used by Samuel Miles’ 7th Rifle Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line from May 16, 1776 until July 19, 1776, and then sporadically by Colonel John Patton’s Additional Continental Regiment from May 26, 1777 to June 4, 1778, is in the Archives of the New Jersey Historical Society. Manuscript Group 224, 7th Rifle Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line / Patton’s Additional Regiment. Here is information about that orderly book:
"Summary:
"Contains orders for Colonel Samuel Miles' 7th Pennsylvania State Rifle Regiment, May 16-July 29, 1776; brigade orders for troops in Brigadier General John Patton's Additional Continental Regiment. Also include financial accounts of an unidentified person. This book was possible kept by Laurence Keene, who served in Patton's Regiment and later was a aide-de-camp to General Thomas Mifflin. ...
[Here is a note on Major Lawrence Keene from Egle's Notes and Queries of Pennsylvania, 1700s–1800s, Annual Volume 1897, Notes and Queries - XXIV, page 131 (on Genealogy.com):
"It is reasonable to conclude that Major Keene was of Scotch-Irish origin, but the date and place of his birth have not been preserved. We first hear of him as a commissioned captain in Colonel John Patton's regiment Jan. 13, 1777; transferred to 11th Pennsylvania, 13 January 1779; aide-de-camp to General Mifflin, 5th June 1778, to 25th February 1779; transferred to Third Pennsylvania, 17th January, 1781; transferred to Second Pennsylvania, 1st January, 1783, when he was mustered out, the war having closed.
"He then took up his residence in Sunbury, having been appointed prothonotary of Northumberland county, September 25, 1783, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Capt. Matthew Smith, another Revolutionary hero. ... Major Keene discharged the duties of prothonotary until July, 1789, when he died. ..."]
"Historical Note:
"The 7th Rifle Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line was commanded by Colonel Samuel Miles (1740-1805) from March 13, 1776 until Miles was taken prisoner at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. From May-June 1776, the regiment advanced from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania to Elizabeth, New Jersey on its way towards Long Island.
"Colonel John Patton’s Additional Continental Regiment was formed in the spring of 1777 and, at the time covered by this volume, was camped at Middlebrook, New Jersey and engaged in the battles of Northern New Jersey. Hartley’s Additional Continental Regiment absorbed this regiment in January 1779. ...
"Scope and Content Note:
"This volume is an orderly book used by Samuel Miles’ 7th Rifle Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line from May 16, 1776 until July 19, 1776, and then sporadically by Colonel John Patton’s Additional Continental Regiment from May 26,1777 to June 4, 1778. It was also used as an account book by an unidentified farmer in 1799 and by an unidentified apothecary from 1800-1802.
"An orderly book is usually used by the orderly sergeant or the aide de camp to enter general and regimental orders; there is usually one for each company. This volume was probably kept by Laurence Keene (fl. 1776-1778), who served in Samuel Miles’ 7th Rifle Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line, Colonel John Patton’s Additional Continental Regiment, and later became an aide-de-camp to General Thomas Mifflin (1745-1800). Typical orders recorded regard troop movements and formation, rations of food and rum, and court marshal proceedings.
"Orders were issued at the following locations:
1. Marcus Hook, PA, May 16-July 2, 1776
2. Philadelphia, PA, July 5, 1776
3. Allentown, NJ, July 7, 1776
4. New Brunswick, NJ, July 9-10, 1776
5. Perth Amboy, NJ, July 11-30, 1776
6. Elizabeth, NJ, July 18-19,1776
7. Middlebrook, NJ, May 26-June 2, 1777
8. Valley Forge, PA, June 1-4, 1778."
The Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot was formed on May 2, 1777, and the remains of Colonel Samuel Miles' Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment were assigned to it. Sergeant Hugh McGough of Captain John Clark's company maintained the orderly book of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot in the middle part of 1777. The part of the book that covers May 10, 1777, to August 16, 1777, has been published. The Historical Resources Branch, US Army Center of Military History, The Continental Army, Bibliography, Pennsylvania, lists the document this way:
McGough, Hugh. "Orderly Book of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot, May 10 to August 16, 1777." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 22 (1898), pages 57-70, 196-210, 301-320, 475-478.
This orderly book is discussed in a separate section of this web page.
Here is a note from Pennsylvania State Regiment, 1777—Thirteenth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line from Uniforms of the American Revolution:
"The Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot was organized at the end of April, 1777, from the men and officers of Miles's rifle battalion and Atlee's musketry battalion. Colonel John Bull was appointed colonel on May 2, 1777, but was succeeded on June 17 by Colonel Walter Stewart. On June 10, 1777, the Pennsylvania Assembly, following the advice of the Supreme Executive Council of the state, transferred the state regiment to Continental service. Colonel Stewart called his regiment the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regiment in his weekly return of October 27, and it was so designated and officially added to the Continental Line by a resolution of the Continental Congress dated November 12, 1777. The Thirteenth was incorporated with the Second Pennsylvania, July 1, 1778.
"The men of the Pennsylvania State Regiment were clothed and equipped at least as early as the middle of June, 1777. Their uniform was blue faced and lined with red, with the letters P S R on the white pewter buttons."
The morning report of the Encampment on the Neshaminy for August 10th through 23rd, 1777, lists Colonel Walter Stewart of the 13th Pennsylvania. See: 13th Pennsylvania Regiment.
A Roll of Captain John Clark's Company, Mustered at Fort Island, May 8, 1777, lists James McMichael as Second Lieutenant, and Hugh McGough as one of four sergeants. Other sergeants were Edward Spear, James Sloan, and John Mennis. Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution : battalions and line, 1775-1783, volume 1, page 272 (Harrisburg: L. S. Hart, state printer, 1880, 1645 pages). McGough, Sloan and Mennis (Minnis) are the three sergeants who appear on the muster roll of September, 1777, discussed above.
The muster roll of Captain John Clark's company for September, 1777, (which is image number 215 on Ancestry com's microfilm copy of roll 84 of U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783 > Pennsylvania) lists Hugh McGough as a sergeant. The report is in folio 41, which is labeled: 13th Regiment, 1777. The report was signed by Captain John Clark on October 12, 1777, which is eight days after the Battle of Germantown of October 4, 1777. In that battle, the 13th Regiment was still assigned to General Nathaniel Greene's division, the PSR participated in the assault of the British right flank. On November 12, 1777, the Pennsylvania State Regiment was officially designated the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line.
The Battle of Long Island is also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Flatbush. The battle was fought August 27, 1776.
At about 8:00 am on Tuesday, August 27, 1776, Colonel Samuel Miles and about 230 men (of his unit of 600 men) attacked the rear baggage guard of Sir William Howe's column. After fierce fighting, Miles and about 150 of his men were captured. His other troops retreated toward Brooklyn. On Wednesday, August 28, heavy rains made further fighting impossible. As darkness fell on the night of Thursday, August 29, General George Washington began a successful nighttime evacuation of his 10,000 troops by boat across the East River to Manhattan. For a map and brief description of the battle, see the Battle of Long Island by Christopher.
Captain John Marshall's company was "badly broken up" in the Battle of Long Island. Captain Marshall was injured in the battle, as a result of which he resigned his commission in February of 1776. He was succeeded in command by Captain John Clark, who was promoted from First Lieutenant to Captain on February 20, 1777.
The roll of Captain John Marshall's Company published in Egles Notes and Queries of Pennsylvania, 1700s–1800s (volume II, chapter XXIII, page 133), contains this entry after the names of four privates: "missing since the battle, August 27, 1776." The names so annotated are: Robert Andrew, John Campbell, Edward Carlton, and Robert Sieman.
Patrick McGough may have been a son of Miles McGough and Elizabeth Spencer. See my page: McGoughs in Pre-Revolutionary America: Miles and Elizabeth Spencer McGough. There is some family history that says he served in the Revolutionary War and died in the Battle of Princeton. He was alive and in Harford county in the first half of the 1790s, and therefore did not die in the war. I have found no record of any service of a Patrick McGough in the Revolutionary War.
Possibly the legend of Patrick McGough and the Battle of Princeton is a distorted memory, filtered through several generations, of Hugh McGough, who may also have been a brother of James McGough, who served in the Revolutionary War, survived the Battle of Princeton, was possibly in the later Battle of Brandywine, and died in Harford county in October of 1799—possibly of injury or sickness incurred during his military service. (There is nothing other than circumstantial evidence to suggest this.)
The Battle of Princeton began on January 3, 1777. Captain John Marshall's company, and presumably Hugh McGough, participated in the battle. General Washington had gathered all the troops he could, calling on the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey militia. British General Sir William Howe, in a letter to Lord George Germaine, written in New York on January 5, 1777, the day after the battle of Princeton ended, mentioned that before the battle he had gained "intelligence that the enemy, on receiving reinforcements from Virginia, Maryland, and the militia of Pennsylvania, had repassed the Delaware into Jersey."One possibility is that the reason Hugh McGough was assigned to keep the regimental orderly book after the Battle of Princeton is that he was recovering from wounds received in the battle.
Kerry McClellan (as his name appears on the roll, more often spelled Cary McClelland) enlisted in Captain John Marshall's company on April 18, 1775, three days after Hugh McGough. He was also from Harford county, Maryland. He participated in the Battle of Princeton. Cary McClelland was born on March 13, 1750, in Ireland, and had migrated to Maryland sometime before 1776. He served in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Princeton. Here are excerpts from his pension application in 1834:
"he enlisted in the army of the United States sometime in April, 1776, with sergeant Major Marshall, Sergeant Major Nelson was a person, taken at St Johns, and put the regiment that claimant was in through their exercise the first time, after their rendivous at Marshy Sook by the request of Colonel Stuart.
"Claimant served in (the members of regiment not recollected) but was called Col Stuart regiment or the Pennsylvania Riflemen and (as claimant thinks) of the Pennsylvania line, under the following named officers. To wit: Col Walter Stuart and Captain John Marshal, Lieut. (names not recollected at this time, thinks only) Ensign Spears. [Edward Speers was a sergeant on the roll of Captain John Marshall's Company with an enlistment date of March 19, 1776.]
"Claimant resided when he entered the service within five miles of Bushtown [also known as Harford town or Bush*, at the head of the Bush River in northern Harford county] in Harford County, Maryland. Entered at the Trap Tavern—the day before they rendivouzed the company that claimant was in. Drawed their capes and hunting shirts at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. ...
*"It was in Bush that 34 Harford County citizens met on March 22, 1775, to sign the Bush Declaration, a commitment to resist the British infringement on American rights. The closing words, "At the Risque of Our Lives & Fortunes," is embellished on the official Harford County seal." (From an article in the Harford County Sun by Karin Remesch published October 27, 2002.)
"The night before Christmas [1776], Washington recrossed the Delaware River, marched to Trenton, and took the Hessians stationed there on Christmas Day. After taking the Hessians we marched back to McCastles Ferry, our encamping ground, where we laid about eight days, then crossed the Delaware River and marched into Trenton again. While we were there, the British came up with a large army. We staid in town til they came in sight of town, and the British took possession of Trenton in the dusk of the evening. Washington gave orders to every man to build a fire about two yards apart, and while the fires were burning Washington marched us around the enemy and onto Princeton which the British had left the day before.
"The British had left a guard at Princeton over the baggage. Declarant heard G Washington tell Gen [Mercer]______ to detach a body of men and go and attack the guard. Declarant was one of the detachment. In the first of the engagements Gen [Mercer]_______ had the hoof shot off his horse with a three pounder and was himself wounded in the groin and fell. After that we had to push bayonets at the right and left wings and Gen M_____ was stabbed seven times with bayonets. When we retreated a little distance, and was relieved by Gen Washington with a reinforcement. ... Gen Mer[cer] survived this action but a short time. ...
"Skirmishing was the most that took place at this time, on until the battle of Brandywine which declarant was in. Marched to Chads Ferry to meet the British where it was expected they would cross but they went up the stream about three miles. Washington marched his army up in brigades to resist their crossing. The contest continued the remainder of the day. The PR regiment arrived about 2 hours Sun, and fought on until dark. Washington marched his army off that night and the next day marched to Philadelphia. Thence to Valley Forge. Gen Washington marched in the evening to Germantown where we had a battle. ...
"Declarant received a written discharge from Capt Marshall and Col Stuart which he has lost.
"Declarant was born in Ireland on the 15 of March AD 1753 had no record of his age. He was living within five miles of Buckstown [should be Bushtown], Harford County, Maryland, when he entered into the service of the United States. After the Revolution declarant moved to Pennsylvania where he lived about fifty years and moved from there to his present residence [in Knox county, Ohio].
Surname Family Exchange, volume 26, number 4, page 465 (Fall 1985) (on Genealogy.com) also says that Cary McClelland, a resident of Harford county, was born in 1753. (Reference B-262). Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, Page 144 (on Genealogy.com) lists Cary McClelland was as a "pensioned soldier from Harford County, Maryland, who settled in Greene County, Pennsylvania after the war." He is listed as having entered 152 acres of land land in Licking county, Ohio, between 1848 and 1855. Gateway to the West, volume I, Licking Co., U.S. Land Entries, page 749 (on Genealogy.com).
There were casualties in the Battle of Princeton; for example, General Hugh Mercer of the Flying Camp Battalion of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, was killed.
I have checked the Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, 1775–1783 (Archives of Maryland, XVIII). To quote Amazon.com: "This is the standard on the more than 20,000 Maryland troops in the Revolutionary War, and as such it is a book of the greatest genealogical and historical magnitude. The plan of the work is archival, that is, lists and documents are printed as found, with a general index of names at the back of the book. Lists enumerated include the Flying Camp, Maryland Troop Musters, the German Regiment, Artillery Rolls, Rolls of Men in Lee's Dragoons and Pulaski's and Armand's Legions, Naval Rolls, Invalid Returns, and Rolls of Escaped and Exchanged Prisoners." I found no McGoughs in the book.
Sergeant Hugh McGough maintained the orderly book of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot from May to August of 1777. Colonel John Bull commanded the regiment from the time of its organization on March 1, 1777, until June 17, 1777, and during this time the regiment was known as Bull's Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot. After June 17, 1777, the regiment was commanded by Colonel Walter Stewart.
Here are notes note from A Time Line Of The American Revolutionary War, Noting Events In Provincial Pennsylvania's Counties (from the Mother Bedford website):
"The Pennsylvania State Regiment Of Foot is raised (01/Mar/1777) Colonel John Bull is appointed to command (02/May/1777) (He is promoted, and Colonel Walter Stewart is appointed (17/Jun/1777) ."
"British General William Howe leaves New York with 15,000 redcoats at the start of a campaign against Philadelphia (23/Jul/1777)" (which ultimately led to the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and the capture of Philadelphia by the British). Philadelphia was the "rebel capitol" at the time Howe began his campaign.
Here is a note from page 2 of an article on The Use of Regimental Type Buttons in the Continental Army (1775–1783) in the column Revolutionary War "At the Crossroads" by Ernest Richard Bower in The Treasure Depot Magazine:
"Pennsylvania Packet, August 19, 1777.... From Bull's Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot ... four deserters ... all dressed in blue, turned up with red, and white pewter buttons with the letters PSR marked on them. ... PSR = Pennsylvania State Regiment (Infantry)."
John W. Jordan has edited the orderly book kept by Hugh McGough and published it in 1898 in four installments in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (volume 22, pages 57–70, 196–210, 301–320, and 475–478. Here is Jordan's introduction to the book:
"The Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot was formed largely from the remains of the Rifle Battalion [Regiment?] of Colonel Samuel Miles and the Musketry Battalion of Colonel Samuel J. Atlee, and on May 2, 1777 John Bull was commissioned its colonel. His appointment was, however, unsatisfactory to the officers, who threatened to resign unless he was removed; accordingly on June 17 he was appointed Adjutant-General of the State, and Colonel Walter Stewart given the command of the regiment. The details of this movement are given in the 'Diary of Lieutenant James McMichael," PENNA. MAG., Vol XVI. pages 129 et seq. In July, the regiment was designated the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Line, and in November, by resolution of Congress, was placed on the Continental Establishment. When Colonel Stewart took command of the regiment it mustered eleven companies, fifty-two field and staff-officers, seventy nine non-commissioned officers, and four hundred and seventy-seven privates fit for duty. The Orderly-Book is in a fairly good condition, and many of the entries are in the handwriting of Hugh McGough, who was a sergeant in the company of Captain John Clark. On the inside of the cover is the following:
'May 15, 1777. Crossed ye River to Liberty Island from Red Bank. Four of the enemies ships came into the River and our Gallies bore down to meet them. On that night the enemy looked at New Castle and carried a number of live stock on board their ships, after cutting down ye Liberty Pole and taking away ye Alarm gun. The day following they stood for the Capes.'
"On the same date Lieutenant McMichael in his diary records,
'At noon the alarm guns down the river were fired and flags all hoisted. We were paraded and awaited the attack, which proved a false alarm.'
"The fly-leaf has also the following entries relating to two privates of Captain John Clark's company:
'William Jefferies, 5 ft. 6 in. high; pale complexion, long black hair, med. large gray eyes, a well made Irishman, received his furlough Aug. 21 for 30 days.'
'William Elliot, from Londonderry, Lancaster county, Pa., short dark curly hair, fair complexion, about 5 fee 7 or 8 in. high, has furlough from Dec. 16, 1777 to March 1 1778.'
'December 30, 1977, Lieut. Joseph Finley [of second company] being promoted to Captain, is to take command of the company formerly Captain Patrick Anderson's.'
"Captain Anderson had been elected a member of the Assembly."
William Jeffries was on the roll of Captain John Marshall's Company with an enlistment date of April 26, 1776. William Elliot was not on the early roll of the company, but an abstract card in the Pennsylvania State Archives shows him on the morning reports of March and April, 1777.
The locations of Bull's Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot during the time covered by the orderly book maintained by Hugh McGough were: Red Bank (Fort Mercer), New Jersey (May 10 – June 15); Boundbrook (or Bound Brook), New Jersey; Morristown, New Jersey (July 3–10) (which was the American Winter Camp and headquarters of General George Washington from January 6, 1777, to May 26, 1777); Pompton Plains, New Jersey (July 11–14) (where General George Washington's itinerary shows he was on July 13, 1777); The Clove, New Jersey (July 15–23) (where General George Washington's itinerary shows he was on July 21–23, 1777); near Coryells Ferry, (now New Hope), New Jersey, on the Delaware River (July 28–31) (where General George Washington's itinerary shows he was on July 31, 1777, and where Washington had made his famous crossing of the Delaware on December 25, 1776); Germantown, Pennsylvania (August 2) (where the itinerary in The Papers of George Washington shows he was on August 6, 9, and 23, 1777); and Crossroads, at the intersection of York and Bristol Roads, in Warwick township, Hartsville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania—sometimes called the Hartsville Encampment (August 1–15). (Cross Roads camp, Buck county, Pennsylvania. General George Washington sent a letter to Major General Israel Putnam from "Camp in Bucks county on August 11, 1777; and a letter the same day to Brigadier General Silas Newcomb from "headquarters, near the Cross Roads." On the same day, he sent a letter to Artemas Ward from Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, and he used the same addresses interchangeably on dozens of letter sent though August 23, 1777. The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources: Volume 9. General Washington's itinerary shows that from August 12 to 23, 1777, he was at Moland House, Neshaminy Camp, in Warwick township, near Hartsville, Pennsylvania, and on August 9 and 23, he was in Germantown. The Neshaminy Valley is a few miles northeast of Philadelphia. The village of Germantown was about 6 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Here is a more complete history of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot:
"The Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot was organized at the end of April, 1777, from the men and officers of Miles's rifle battalion and Atlee's musketry battalion. Colonel John Bull was appointed colonel on May 2, 1777, but was succeeded on June 17 by Colonel Walter Stewart. On June 10, 1777, the Pennsylvania Assembly, following the advice of the Supreme Executive Council of the state, transferred the state regiment to Continental service. Colonel Stewart called his regiment the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regiment in his weekly return of October 27, and it was so designated and officially added to the Continental Line by a resolution of the Continental Congress dated November 12, 1777. The Thirteenth was incorporated with the Second Pennsylvania, July 1, 1778.
"March 5, 1776 The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passes a resolution to establish: The Pennsylvania State Rifle Regiment, known as Miles’s Regiment, was to consist of two battalions of six companies of seventy-eight enlisted men, armed with rifles: The State Battalion of Musketry, known as Atlees’s Battalion, was to consist of eight companies of fifty-eight enlisted men, armed with muskets.
"August 11, 1776 The Pennsylvania troops are ordered to New York and are assigned to the brigade commanded by General William Alexander.
"August 25–27, 1776 The Battle of Long Island. The Pennsylvania Riflemen are sent to the left near Flatbush and the Musketeers are sent to the right with General Alexander. During the battle, Colonel Miles, Atlee and Lt. Colonel Piper are captured. Lt. Colonel Brodhead is placed in command of the consolidated forces and ordered by General Washington to withdraw to Manhattan.
"October 28, 1776 The Battle of White Plains. A portion of the Pennsylvanians, most of them riflemen, served on the American left flank against the Hessians.
"November 16, 1776 The fall of Fort Washington. The Pennsylvanians assigned to the fort, mostly from the Musket Battalion, are among those captured.
"December 26, 1776 The Battle of Trenton. Participating in a part of the left wing under Nathaniel Green, the Pennsylvanians assist in the defeat of the Hessians under Colonel Rall.
[The Battle of Trenton Order of Battle includes, under Major General Nathaneal Greene's Division:
Brig. Gen. Hugh Mercer’s Brigade:
20th Continental Regt (Durkee’s Conn.)
Bradley’s Battalion Conn. State Troops
27th Continental Regt. (Hutchinson’s Mass.)
Smallwood’s 1st Maryland Regt.
Stephenson’s Md-Va. Rifle Regt.]"January 3, 1777. The Battle of Princeton. With less than 200 troops remaining, the consolidated troops are assigned to Brig. General Hugh Mercer and attack a group of British dragoons. [Within Major-General Nathaneal Greene's Command was General Hugh Mercer's Brigade, which consisted of 73 officers and 765 men in these b units:
* Twentieth Regiment, Continental Foot - Connecticut Regiment
* First Maryland Regiment, Continental Infantry
* Twenty-seventh Regiment, Continental Foot - Massachusetts Regiment
* Colonel Bradley's Battalion, Connecticut State Troops
* Maryland Rifle Battalion Volunteers]"March 1, 1777. The Pennsylvania State Regiment is officially activated as a unit. The Pennsylvania Council of Safety prescribes that there will be ten companies, 'eight of them armed with muskets and the other two with rifles.' They are officially uniformed in a blue regimental coat with red lining and facing and pewter buttons inscribed PSR. Black regimental hats are bound up in yellow. Records of deserters in 1777-78 show however, men clad in various color regimental coats and hunting shirts.
"June 10, 1777. The transfer of the Pennsylvania State Regiment to the Continental service is formalized.
"September 11, 1777. The Battle of Brandywine. After exchanging fire in the area of Chadd’s Ford, The PSR, as part of General Greene’s division, moves to meet the main British assault
"October 4, 1777. Battle of Germantown. Still assigned to Greene’s division, the PSR participates in the assault of the British right flank.
"November 12, 1777. The Pennsylvania State Regiment is officially designated the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line."
See the pension application of John Brownlee, a member of Colonel Samuel Miles' regiment, of Pennsylvania Riflemen which, after the battle of Princeton, was consolidated with another regiment into the Pennsylvania State regiment. The regiment was for some time commanded by Colonel Bull, and afterwards by Colonel Mathew [should be Walter] Stewart. See also the biography of John Murray. See also: 13th Pennsylvania.
The publication of Hugh McGough's orderly book in volume 22 of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography has made it a recognized source of the history of the American Revolution. For example, pages 205–6 are quoted in Arming America—The Origins of a National Gun Culture, by Michael A. Bellesiles (Alfred A. Knopf 2000), page 201:
"A persistent problem for the officer corps was the common soldier's failure to care for his weapon. After an inspection of the Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot in July 1777, Washington 'was suprised this day to see the bad condition of many arms, they being not only unfit for fire, but very rusty, which latter is in the power of every man to prevent, and the neglect of it may arise from an inexcusable inattention of the orders.' ... Washington became nearly obsessed with the cleanliness of his troops' firearms, realizing full well that a fouled gun was useless if not dangerous. The orderly books of the Continental army are full of his orders that guns be cleaned regularly, weekly if possible."
Hugh McGough may have been a casualty of the Battle of Brandywine, but this is conjecture. The Battle of Brandywine, on September 11, 1777, was one of the largest land battles fought during the Revolution. Casualties were high. From Battle of Brandywine: The Human Toll by Mary Costella, where she says:
"After the battle, the ... Continental wounded were scattered about in small groups near the area of battle, many of them initially being moved to the Turk’s Head Tavern in what is currently the town of West Chester. Doctors were under orders from Congress to leave hospitals if necessary to attend the sick and wounded on the battlefield. The celebrated delegate Dr. Benjamin Rush, recently appointed Physician General of the Continental Army, was among those summoned to attend the wounded at General Howe’s invitation.
"Many other wounded and incapacitated Continentals were loaded into springless open wagons and transported in the direction of Philadelphia. There they were to be sent on to Trenton where a Continental hospital had been established. Due to the vagaries of war and the uncertain fate of the city and environs, the wounded were moved yet again to greater safety in Bethlehem, Allentown, and Easton. Others were sent to Moravian religious communities in Ephrata, Bethlehem, Lititz, and Reading. Diseases such as typhus, yellow fever, and malaria plagued the hospitals. In his memoirs Dr. Rush noted 'Fatal experience has taught the people of America…that a greater proportion of men have perished with sickness in our armies than have fallen by the sword.'
"Burial details are hard to come by, but eyewitness accounts that exist indicate that mass burials in shallow pits were the norm. Joseph Townsend’s account is illustrative: '…the inhabitants found it necessary to call in the assistance of their neighbors to rebury many of the dead, who lay exposed to the open air and ravages of beasts and wild fowls, having in consequence of the late heavy rains, been washed bare, and some few of them had never been interred.'"
For more on the Battle of Brandywine, see the article by Edward G. Lengel on the War Times Journal website.
After the battle of Brandywine, a detachment of British troops under Lord Charles Cornwallis occupied Philadelphia on September 26, 1777. General William Howe remained wary of the Americans, who were camped only thirty miles northwest of Philadelphia along Perkiomen Creek between Pennypacker's Mills and Trappe. Accordingly, he put the bulk of his remaining force—some 9,000-10,000 troops—at Germantown, five miles above Philadelphia, covering the likely avenues of approach from Washington's position. On October 4, 1777, General Washington's troops attacked, were defeated, and withdrew in an orderly fashion. The Americans lost 1,073 officers and men killed, wounded and missing. See: The Battle of Germantown published by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Participating in the attack were the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Nathaniel Greene, which included the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment (also know as The Pennsylvania State Rifle Regiment and Miles's Regiment), which in turn included Captain John Clark's company in which Hugh McGough was a sergeant.
Thiswas to be the last major battle of the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment until the battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.
Hugh McGough apparently returned from his service with the Continental Army to Harford county in late 1777 or early 1778. Perhaps it was upon his return from Army service that he married Rosanna Crooks, daughter of William and Mary Crooks. Since Rosanna Crooks was born in 1740 and was 37 years old in 1777, the marriage may have preceded the Revolution.
According to OneWorldTree on Ancestry.com, William Crooks and Mary Weer were married on November 18, 1736, in the First Presybyterian Church of Philadelphia. Their daughter, Rosanna, who maried Hugh McGough, was born in 1740.
The Crooks family had come from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to the Deer Creek area of what was to become Harford county, around 1763. On April 27, 1763, Thomas and Ann Johnson of Baltimore county deeded 200 acres of land at Broad Creek to William Crooks of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, for £215.6. Broad Creek is just north of Deer Creek.
Several months before Hugh McGough returned to Harford county from military service, William Crooks, the father of his wife, Rosanna Crooks, died. (OneWorldTree gives his date of death as December 31, 1776.) William Crooks of Harford county, Pennsylvania, "being sick but perfect in mind and memory" had William Hopkins prepare his "last will and testament" on December 30, 1776. Crooks approved the form of the will and asked Henry Guffee and James Barnett to come to his sick bed to witness his signature. Before they all got together, Crooks died. The will was approved on the basis of testimony of Hopkins, Guffee, and Barnett, on September 7, 1778. William Crooks' wife, Mary, was left 1/3 of his estate during her lifetime, and named her and his son Henry as co-administrators of his estate. In his second bequest, William Crooks bequeathed 50 acres of land to his daughter, Rosanna:
"Secondly I give and Bequeath to my daughter Rosanna fifty acres of land beginning for the same on a line of a Tract of land called Cley Hill Inlarged running from thence with the said line to the Second Runn, which said Land I give and Bequeath unto my Said Daughter her heirs and assigns for ever."
The will does not indicate whether Rosanna was married at the time, and her last name is not stated in the will.
William Crooks left the rest of his land to his sons Henry, Thomas, and Robert. He left £10 to each of three other daughters, Jennete, Mary, and Margaret. He also left £5 to his grandson William, son of his son Henry (and his wife Jane), and £20 to his grandson James Dugle (?), to be paid with interest when each reached the age of 21. On the inventory of the estate, filed by Mary Crooks on November 26, 1779, Thomas Crooks and Henry Crooks appear as "Nearest of Kin." One of the appraisers of the estate was William Ashmore.
On January 27, 1778, Mary Crooks, as administratrix of the estate of William Crooks, brought a lawsuit in Harford county against her son-in-law, Hugh McGough, who was described as a weaver, on behalf of William Crooks, deceased, claiming that she was the administratrix of all the goods and chattels, rights and credits, that belonged to the late William Crooks, and asking that Hugh "provide unto hir Thirty pounds four Shillings Common Money which sum he owed and Unjustly Detained." Mary's lawyer was Aquila Hall. There is no indication in the suit of when Hugh McGough incurred this debt, or whether Hugh McGough incurred the debt before or after his marriage to Rosannah Crooks.
On September 26, 1780, a deed was filed with the Harford county clerk by which Margaret Crooks and Henry Crooks conveyed to 25 acres of land to William Ashmore. The grantors describe themselves as: "Relict (surviving spouse) and Administratrix of Wm. Crooks late of Harford County Deceased and Henry Crooks of the same place Son and heir at Law of the Said William Crooks Deceased." The deed recites that, during his lifetime, William Crooks sold the tract of land to William Ashmore for £32. The land was described as 25 acres, more or less, laid out on the south side of Broad Creek, and called Giles and Websters Discovery. The instrument contains the date March 29, 1780, and was signed on May 29, 1780. Margaret Crooks signed "her X mark." Witnesses were William Smithson and James Giles.
William Ashmore, the purchaser of the 25 acres from William Crooks, was on the list of signers in 1776 in the Deer Creek Upper Hundred of the Maryland Articles of Association. Ashmore was also the solicitor of the list (volume 25, number 3, Summer 1984, Men of '76, page 322, on Genealogy.com). He was also on the same list of taxpayers of 1777 in Deer Creek Middle Hundred as Hugh McGouch (volume18, number 1, Winter 1977, Harford County, Maryland Tax List, page 34, on Genealogy.com).
Hugh McGough died before October 4, 1779. On that date, his widow, Rosannah McGough filed a £2000 bond as administratrix of his estate. Sureties on the bond were James Barnett and Henry Crooks. The estate papers spell the surname as McGaugh.
On June 13, 1780, his widow, Rosannah McGough, filed an inventory and appraisal of the estate of Hugh McGough, dated November 15, 1779. The total valuation was one thousand two hundred and twenty pounds three shillings. Listed as creditors were Mary Crooks (who signed by her mark) and Thomas Crooks. Henry Crooks and Robert Crooks signed the inventory as "Nearest of Kin." At first, I thought that this meant that Hugh McGough had no blood relatives in Harford county—contrary to my hypothesis that Miles McGough (senior) and Elizabeth Spencer McGough were his father and mother, and John, James, Miles (junior), and Thomas McGough were his brothers. Henry C. Peden, Jr., however, explained that the relatives of the wife of a deceased person could fill the legal requirement that the signatures of two "nearest of kin" sign the inventory. "Nearest of kin" in this context does not necessarily require persons with a potential right of inheritance. Henry and Robert Crooks were the brothers of Hugh McGough's widow Rosanna Crooks McGough. In answering my question, Mr. Peden told me an email on March 4, 2004:
"The "nearest of kin" named in the inventory were the 'nearest of kin' to the deceased. Any adults present at the time, either blood related or in-laws, could witness and sign the inventory (you are right -- Henry and Robert Crooks were Hugh's brothers-in-law, that is, Rosanna's brothers). No matter how many McGoughs and Crooks were in the area, only two signatures were required and apparently the Crooks brothers were available to sign at the time."
Maryland State Archives—Probate Records gives us this explanation of inventories in Maryland estates in the 1700s:
"Inventories are lists of personal property owned by the deceased, drawn up by two appraisers, who would list everything in the house, the barn, and the tool shed, and appraise the items in terms of money or in tobacco. After about 1712, the inventory would have been signed by two of the 'greatest creditors' and two of the adult 'nearest of kin.'"
Appraisers of Hugh McGough's estate were Mannasse Finney and James Wilson.
Included in the inventory were tools of the weaver's trade: one old spinning wheel valued at £5, five dozen needles, a weaver's candlestick, and several pieces of cloth. Also in the inventory were some clues to military service: one old gun valued at £5, four pounds of "old powter," and one old tin cartridge box. (See: Rees, John. "On the Use of Tin Cartridge Boxes in the Continental Army." Military Collector and Historian, 42 (Winter 1990), pages 150-151.) The inventory also included indications that Hugh McGough was literate: six old small books, some bound, some unbound, valued at seven pounds, two shillings; and an old bible and other old small books, valued at eleven pounds, five shillings.
The estate inventory shows that Hugh McGough grew flax and wheat, and maintained a small farm. There were two old hilling (?) hoes, 9 barrels of Indian corn, a half a barrel of buckwheat, 3 bushels of oats, an old horse (valued at £15), an old saddle, an old mare with a colt (valued at £150), a young sow and four pigs (valued at £12), an old sow (valued at £12), a bushel of flax seed and flax on the ground (valued at four pounds, ten shillings), one milk cow (worth $200, value combined with the value of 4 pounds of wool at 20 (?), was £79), 1 1/2 bushels of wheat (valued at £15), 4 acres of wheat in the ground (valued at £120), 6 acres of rye in the ground (£90), 20 bushels of turnips (at $2 per bushel, valued at £15). No plow is listed.
Hugh McGough, James Barnet, William Crooks, Sr., William Crooks, Jr., Thomas Crooks, and Mannassah Finney—in that order—are on the list of Association of Freemen in Deer Creek Upper Hundred compiled by James Barnett in 1776 (volume 25, number 3, Summer 1984, Men of '76, page 323, on Genealogy.com). Henry Crooks and and Robert Crooks were signers of the Oath of Fidelity and Allegiance to Maryland in 1778. William Crooks was a private in Captain Robert Harris' Harford Rifles in 1776 (Harford County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, page 54, on Genealogy.com).
A census in 1776 of the Broad Creek Hundred of Harford county lists Henry Crooks, age 28; Jane Crooks, age 23; William Crooks, age 5; Andrew Crooks, age 3; and Margrett Crooks, aged 1/2. Living with the family is Elizabeth Kerby, age 26. In the 1790 census of Harford county, there is no listing for Henry, Mary, Robert, Thomas, or William Crooks. There is a listing for Henry Crooks in a family of eight in Baltimore county (roll 3, book 1, page 211). There is also a listing in Baltimore county for a Henary Crook in a family of six (roll 3, book 1, page 165). There is a listing in the 1790 census of Alexander Crooks in a family of three in Harford county (roll 3, book 2, page 290).
The estate of John Crooks, filed in Baltimore county on May 25, 1772, lists William Crooks as the next of kin. Henry Crooks and William Crooks are listed as creditors. The administrator of the estate was James Gordon. (Prerogative Court Abstracts, 1769-1772, Abstracts 1769-1772, page 104, on Genealogy.com).
Shelly Bellanger of Shakopee, Minnesota, says that William and Mary (Weer) Crooks "are my gr-gr-gr-gr grandparents on my Mom's side." Shelly sent me the GEDCOM of William Crooks and Mary Weer. I include a small part of the GEDCOM, dealing with generations number 1 and 2, below (even though it repeats some information in the previous section):
"Descendants of William Crooks
Generation No. 1
1. WILLIAM1 CROOKS was born Abt. 1715 in Hartford County, Maryland, and died December 31, 1776 in Hartford County, Maryland. He married MARY WEER November 18, 1736 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. She was born Abt. 1715.
Notes for WILLIAM CROOKS:
On January 2, 1777, Mary Crooks (wife), Andrew Howlett (son's father-in-law) and Henry Guffee (neighbor ?) were placed under bond to inventory William's estate. The estate was valued at 320 pounds (about $753) by a committee consisting of 6 men, including Thomas Crooks and Henry Crooks. (Presumably the latter were his sons!) Mary Crooks was involved in 2 different land transactions after the death of her husband.
Land transaction: Sold to William Ashmore Film #0014091 (Land Records, JLG, Book C, p 427)
On March 29, 1780, Margaret and Henry deeded 25 acres of a tract of land called 'Giles and Websters Discovery' to William Ashmore. Apparently, William had sold the land in 1772, but had not relinquished it. On November 10, 1780, Mary concurred with her son Henry's sale of 400 acres to Joseph Miller.
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Mary Crooks is in the 1790 Bucks County census. No will was found for Mary Crooks in Bucks County.
Notes for MARY WEER:
On January 2, 1777, Mary Crooks (wife), Andrew Howlett (son's father-in-law) and Henry Gufee (neighbor?) were placed under bond to inventory William's estate. The estate was valued at 320 pounds (about $753) by a committee consisting of 6 men, including Thomas Crooks and Henry Crooks. (presumably the latter were his sons.) Mary Crooks was involved in 2 different land transactions after the death of her husband.
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Land transaction: Sold to William Ashmore Film #0014091 (Land Records, JLG, Book C p 427)
On Mary 29, 1780, Margaret (really Mary?) and Henry deeded 25 acres of a tract of land called 'Giles and Websters Discovery' to William Ashmore. Apparently, William had sold the land in 1772, but had not relinquished it. On November 10, 1780, Mary concurred with her son Henry's sale of 400 acres to Joseph Miller. And this is the last mention of Mary in Harford County that we are aware of at this time. Don Harper did locate a Mary Crooks in the 1790 census in Bucks County and has speculated that Mary returned to Bucks County when her sons moved west. However, no will was found for Mary Crooks in Bucks County.
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Married November 18, 1736 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
According to Pennsylvania Marriages Prior to 1810, Volume II, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1968 (Hags Library, 929.3, PLr), William Crooks and Mary Weer married November 18, 1736 at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The name William Crooks and Mary match the names in William's will in Harford County, Maryland. And Philadelphia was near Springfield Township, Pennsylvania, which is where William eventually lived.
According to a document complied by Miriam Bolick, William Crooks married Mary Wier at First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia November 18, 1736. I am guessing that the primary source for this was Pennsylvania Marriages Prior to 1810.
Marriage notes for William Crooks and Mary Weer: According to Pennsylvania Marriages Prior to 1810, Volume II, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1968 (HAGS library, 929.3, PLr), William Crooks and Mary Weer married 11, 18, 1736 (November 18, 1736) at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The names William Crooks and Mary match the names in William's will in Harford County, Maryland. And Philadelphia was near Springfield Township, Pennsylvania, which is where William eventually lived.
More About William Crooks and Mary Weer:
Marriage: November 18, 1736, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Children of WILLIAM CROOKS and MARY WEER are:
i. WILLIAM2 CROOKS, b. Abt. 1737.
ii. JENETTE CROOKS, b. Abt. 1738.
iii. MARY CROOKS, b. Abt. 1739.
iv. ROSANNA CROOKS, b. Abt. 1740; m. HUGH MCGAUGH; d. 1779, Harford, Maryland.
v. MARGARET CROOKS, b. Abt. 1740.
2. vi. THOMAS CROOKS, b. Abt. 1742; d. Bef. November 1810, Howland Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.
3. vii. HENRY CROOKS, b. Abt. 1743, Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; d. March 10, 1831, Robinson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
viii. ROBERT CROOKS, b. Bet. 1756 - 1760.
Generation No. 2
2. THOMAS2 CROOKS (WILLIAM1) was born Abt. 1742, and died Bef. November 1810 in Howland Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. He married JANE COUSIN January 31, 1780 in Harford County, Maryland.
Notes for THOMAS CROOKS:
HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume I, page 434, 436, 437
TRUMBULL COUNTY
Trumbull County was formed in 1800. On July 10 of that year Governor St. Clair proclaimed that "all that territory included in Jefferson County, lying north of the forty first degree of north latitude and all that part of Wayne county included in the Connecticut Western Reserve should constitute a new county to be known by the name of Trumbull and that the seat of justice should be Warren. This made the new county co-extensive with the Western Reserve.
[I have omitted much of the material on Trumbull County. HMcG]
In 1790, Thomas is still living in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The census lists 1 male 16+, 2 males under 16 and 3 females. I am speculating that these 6 people include Thomas, his wife Jane and 4 children.
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1783 - Listed as having 2 horses and 3 sheep, valued at 9 pounds, 10 shillings. No acreage is listed. Thomas is not listed as single, so presumably he is married. Both Henry and Robert (his brothers) are listed in the same township.
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When the Revolutionary War broke out, William Crooks Jr. and Thomas Crooks were members of Captain William Webb's 16th Company. If William Jr. is a son, he must have died before December of 1776, since he is not mentioned in William Sr's will (The last known date of William Jr's military activity is November 9, 1776). William Crooks was not listed in the 1776 census.
Listed as over 18 years old.
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Thomas a settler of 1806 died early and his widow brought up the family. Thomas, late of Warren.
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On October 14, 1775, a Thomas Crooke was a private in Captain Webb's Company No. 16.
In 1776, Thomas Crooks signed the Association of Freemen in Deer Creek Hundred.
In 1778, Thomas was over the age of 18 in Deer Creek Middle Hundred, per the tax lists of 1778.
According to Pennsylvania Archives, Series 5, Volume 4, Thomas Crooks, Esq., private, received depreciation from Washington County militia. (See Page 326.) In addition, he served on the Continental Line in Washington County.
(See page 705.)
In 1783, Thomas Crooks is living in Nottingham Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Thomas Crooks is listed as having 2 horses and 3 sheep, valued at 9 pounds, 10 shillings. No acreage is listed. Thomas is not listed as single, so presumably he is married. Both Henry and Robert (his brothers) are listed in the same township.
In 1790, Thomas is still living in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The census lists 1 male 16+, 2 males under 16 and 3 females. I am speculating that these 6 people include Thomas, his wife Jane and 4 children.
In 1800, a Thomas Crookes is living in Washington County, Pennsylvania, as are his brothers Henry and Robert. Members of the household are 1 male 45+, 1 female 45+, 2 males 26-44, 1 female 26-44, 1 male 16-25, 1 female 16-25, 1 male 10-15, 1 female 0-9. This appears to be Thomas and Jane and possibly 7 of their children.
More About THOMAS CROOKS:
Burial: Kennedy Cemetery
Census: 1790, In 1790, Thomas is still living in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The census lists 1 male 16+, 2 males under 16 and 3 females. I am speculating that these 6 people include Thomas, his wife Jane and 4 children.
Military service: October 14, 1775, Private in Captains Webb's Company Number 16. Military ended about 1776 at Washington County, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Archives, Series 5, Volume 4, Thomas Crooks, Esq., private, received depreciation pay from Washington County militia.
Residence: 1783, Nottingham Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Listed as having 2 horses and 3 sheep, valued at 9 pounds, 10 shillings. No acreage is listed. Thomas is not listed as single, so presumbably he is married.
Notes for JANE COUSIN:
There is a discrepancy in regards to Jane's maiden name. On her son's Samuel Crossin Crook's Death Record - it is written down as Jane Smith. In the photocopy of the handwritten pages out of Elna Smith's Bible - it is written down as Jane Crossen.
Son, Samuel Crossin Crook's middle name is Crossin. Samuel's son Henry Samuel Crooks - had a son named Charles Crossen Crooks.
I believe that the middle name of Crossen or Crossin is a clue to Jane's last name.
Marriage Notes for THOMAS CROOKS and JANE COUSIN:
Three marriage records listed. The second one is for Jane Cussin - January 31, 1781 at Harford, Maryland. The third one is listed as March 17, 1780.
_____________
Marriage
According to "Maryland Marriages, 1778-1800", Robert Barnes (compler), Genealogical Publishing Company Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, 1978, page 49, KCMO downtown library. MV 929 3 Ma-bar-2, Thomas Crooks married Jane Cussin on 31 JAN 1781 in Harford County (Maryland). The reference in Harford County Courthouse, 3 HA-3.
According to Harford County, Maryland, Marriage License Book 1, page 3, Thomas Crooks married Jane Cussin on 31 January 1780 in Harford County.
According to 'Early Harford Countians', page 98, Thomas Crooks got a marriage license to Jane Cussin on January 31, 1780. The source referenced was Marriage Records, 1774-1790, at Hartford County courthouse.
More About THOMAS CROOKS and JANE COUSIN:
Marriage: January 31, 1780, Harford County, Maryland
Children of THOMAS CROOKS and JANE COUSIN are:
i. HENRY3 CROOKS, d. Branch County, Michigan; m. ?; d. Michigan.
More About HENRY CROOKS:
Burial: Near Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan
ii. ? CROOKS.
iii. ? CROOKS.
4. iv. THOMAS CROOKS, b. Abt. 1789; d. March 08, 1834, Howland Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.
5. v. WILLIAM CROOKS, b. Abt. 1790, Pennsylvania; d. Bef. June 23, 1834, Bayzetta Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.
6. vi. ROBERT CROOKS, b. Bet. 1792 - 1794; d. February 24, 1850, Howland Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.
vii. JOHN CROOKS, b. Bef. 1796; d. Howland Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.
7. viii. SAMUEL CROSSIN CROOKS, b. July 14, 1804, Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio; d. April 10, 1888, Crooks Township, Renville County, Minnesota.
3. HENRY2 CROOKS (WILLIAM1) was born Abt. 1743 in Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and died March 10, 1831 in Robinson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. He married JANE HOWLETT Bet. 1768 - 1769 in Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of ANDREW HOWLETT and MARGARET. She was born Abt. 1753, and died July 15, 1816 in Robinson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Notes for HENRY CROOKS:
1776 Broad Creek Hundred Census lists:
Henry Crooks, age 28
Jane, age 23
Son William, age 5
Son Andrew, age 3
Daughter Margaret, age 6 months
Elizabeth Kerby (?), age 26
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Sometime between 1780 and 1782, three Crooks brothers and their families moved to Washington County in Western Pennsylvania and appear in later Tax and Census records for the area.
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Henry Crooks and Robert Crooks are listed with 76 others who repeated and subscribed to the "Oath of Fidelity" before William Webb, Esquire in 1778; Henry's father-in-law, Andrew and his brother-in-law, James Howlett were also in the group.
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Henry and his brothers, Thomas and Robert were Revolutionary War soldier in Maryland and later in Pennsylvania. Henry is listed in the 5th Class of Captain Bruce's Company.
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Mortgage to Hugh Orlton, film #0172875 (Bucks County Deeds, 1742-9, Volume 3, page 133).
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BIRTH:
According to his military tombstone at Raccoon Presbyterian Church cemetery, Henry Crooks Sr., Revolutionary War patriot, was born in 1743.
According to his primary tombstone at Raccoon Presbyterian Church cemetery, Henry Crooks Sr., departed this life March the 10th. 1831 in the 88th year of his age.
According to 'The Crooks Family document from Miriam Bolick, Henry Crooks was the son of William Crooks and Mary Wier, and was born in 1743 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
According to the will of William Crooks (Harford County, Maryland wills, Liber AJ2, page 85-86), William Crooks had a son Henry. Since this son is listed first when he mentions his 3 sons, and since Henry was designated administrator of the estate, it is presumed that Henry is the eldest surviving son. Since William mentions his wife Mary, it seems likely that Mary is the mother of Henry.
According to the 1776 census of Broad Creek hundred, harford County, Maryland, Henry Crooks was 28 years of age. This implies a birth year of 1747 or 1748.
Based on land records for his father William. William would have resided in Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1743, so presumably this is where his son Henry was born.
MARRIAGE:
According to the "A History of the Family of William Crooks, 1738-1830" from Don Harper, Henry and Jane married in Baltimore County about 1768 or 1769. I am assuming that this is based on the facts that Henry and Jane were residing in Harford County in 1776, that Harford County was created from Baltimore County in 1773, and that the eldest child of Henry/Jane was 5 years old in 1776, which probably indicates a marriage at least by 1770.
We know that Henry's wife was Jane. We believe that this was Jane Howlett, because 1) Andrew Howlett names Margarett Crooks as his granddaughter. 2) Naming conventions bear the out: Henry and Jane named their second son Andrew, which is typically named after the maternal grandfather. Henry and Jane named their eldest daughter Margaret, which is typically named after the maternal grandmother.
BURIAL:
Henry Crooks Senior is buried in the Raccoon Presbyterian church cemetery. This cemetery is located near Candor in Washington County, Pennsylvania. His primary tombstone reads 'In memory of Henry Crooks Se'r who departed this life March the 10th 1831 in the 88th year of his age'. The military tombstone reads 'Henry Crooks Sr., Pennsylvania, Pvt 5 CL Washington Co mil, Revolutionary War, 1743-1831'.
NARRATIVE:
There are several early land transactions for a Henry Crooks in Baltimore County, but I do not know if they are for this Henry or not. Since they were dated 1764-1769, Henry would have been 21-25 years of age. But since he married in 1770, this does not seem possible. Perhaps the earliest land transaction is for the Henry Crooks formerly of Bucks County, the mysterious father/brother of William. In the first transaction, in 1764, Henry Crooks purchases 125 acres ("Watson's Trust") from Benjamin Harris and wife. (Book N, page 470) Second, in 1766, Henry Crooks/Crooke purchased 38 acres ("Absolom's Resolution") from Absolom Butler. Third, in 1769, Henry Crooks purchases 240 acres ("Ambrose and Lot augmented"?) from Ambrose Geoghegan.
According to the Tax Lists of 1774 for Harford County, Henry Crooks was living in Deer Creek, Upper Hundred and taxable, implying an age of 18+. Other taxables were William and Thomas Crooks and a Negro Phillis. Is this William Henry's father or brother? Is Robert not mentioned because he is under 18?
According to the 1776 Maryland census (completed 15 AUG), Henry Crooks lived in the Broad Creek Hundred in Harford County. Members of his household were: Henry (28), Jane (23), William (5), Andrew (3), Margarett (6 mos.) and Elizabeth Kerby (26).
According to the Tax Lists of 1778 for Harford County, Henry Crooks was living in Broad Creek Hundred and taxable, implying an age of 18+. Also in 1778, Henry Crooks signed an oath of fidelity and allegiance to Maryland.
On September, 1778, Henry Crooks was the executor of the will of his deceased father William, according to "Index to Wills Probated Between 1774 and 1790".
Even though the Revolutionary War broke out when Henry was still living in Maryland, he does not appear to have had any involvement in the war in that state. In 1778, he took the oath of fidelity before William Webb in compliance with a Maryland law enacted in Feb 1777, requiring all males to sign an oath. Henry signed his name, and therefore was presumably literate.
On 29 March 1780, Margaret Crooks gives a deed of conveyance to William Ashmore. Margaret Crooks is identified as "of Harford County relict and administratix of Wm Crooks late of Harford County deceased", so perhaps she went by Margaret as well as Mary. Henry Crooks is a co-seller, 'of the same place, Son and heir at law of this said William Crooks deceased'. This deed appears to be a formality since William Crooks in his lifetime conveyed 25 acres of "Giles and Webster's Discovery" on the south side of Broad Creek to Wm Ashmore for the sum of 32 pounds. The bond that William gave at this time bore the date 10 Oct 1772. (A detailed description of this parcel of land is given, although it is difficult to read.) This document is signed by Henry Crooks and Margaret Crooks made her mark. Witnesses were Wm Smithson and James Gile. In addition, Jane Crooks, wife of Henry, came forward and acknowledged outside the presence of her husband her release of her dower rights to this land. (Presumably, this was a measure to prevent coercion by the husband.) The deed of conveyance was received and recorded 6 Sep 1780 by John Lee Gibson, clerk.
On November 10, 1780, Henry Crooks, farmer, conveyed land to Joseph Miller for the sum of 23, 160 pounds. The land consisted of three tracts of and amounting to 400 acres. The 3 tracts were: Johnson's Chance, Ashmore's Retirement and Onion's Meadow Ground. Since Henry was identified as of Harford County, he had not yet moved to southwest Pennsylvania. The indenture was signed by Henry Crooks and witnessed by John Patrick and Thomas Crooks (brother). Furthermore, Mary Crooks, widow and mother to Henry Crooks, and Jane Crooks, his wife, relinquished their rights to the property. The legal language is interesting. 'Being privately examined whether they willingly and freely without being induced thereto by fear or threats or of ill usage by said son and husband of for fear of his displeasure acknowledge the same to be the right title and interest of said Joseph Miller'. These statements by Mary and Jane were witnessed by John Patrick and Ignatious Wheeler.
Prior to moving to western Pennsylvania, son Henry and perhaps daughter Jane were born. (Based on two western Pennsylvania sources, however, Jane was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania.) Henry and Jane named their first six children according to the naming conventions of the day. The only exception is that if they had followed the convention strictly, Jane would have been named Mary and Mary would have been named Jane. Another explanation is that a daughter Mary was born about 1779 and died in the early 1780's. And actually, I think this is the most plausible explanation.
Since daughter Jane was born in the spring or early summer of 1781 and since she was presumably b
