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- Letter to William McGinnis Oil Creek, Oct 24, 1825
Dear Brother
I have not heard from you for a long time and I was much pleased to get word from you by the bearer, and I now embrace this opportunity of writing to you. I do not know whether you have heard of mother's death which took place two years ago last March. I suppose you heard of brother James' death. He died in Cincinnati about six years ago. Brother Joseph lost his wife and is married the second time, he had four children by his first wife. He is well. His family is doing well. I have seen brother John and his family is well.
I am living near Carlisle with Mr. Thomas Trimble. I have had my health pretty well generally. I wish you would write to me and let me know every thing about your family and if you had any word from Sarah Linn or Rebecca McKim. I have not heard a word from them this long time. John Steele is gone to the western country some where, but I cannot tell you where. I hope you will write to me shortly, direct your letter to me near Carlisle. I add no more but remain your affectionate sister.
Tirza Lafferty
Captain in militia at Erie in Jan 1814. Listed as William McGennis in census of 1830, Troy Township, Crawford County PA with son James. Copy of the commission dated 3 August 1807 in possession of Gordon L. Drollinger
Researching this family was very hard even with the prior research of Charlie Meier. Nothing seemed to match up. When I went to Crawford County PA to research I found a William mcGinnis had died in 1815 which raised the question of who was this William? I found the tax records for Crawford County which were in the Library in Meadville. William Mcginnis and later a James Rankin McGinnis were paying taxes on land, William had 200 acres 1818 to 1820 after that 50 acres. Yet there was no record of him buying or selling land in the Meadville Courthouse. The History of Crawford County mentioned on page 669 that "William MaGinnis had settled in the eastern part of Troy Township on tract 9 in 1798 and remained a number of years. He had come from the Susquehanna and was of Irish extraction." On page 584 it mentioned the early elders of Kerr's Hill Presbyterian were William McGinnis and William Kerr. Page 654 Steuben Township ...James R. McGinnis son of William McGinnis of Troy Township settled east Tryonville Station." His son William John's death certificate mentioned his father as William McGinnis and his Mother as Hannah. His daughter Frances gave the mother's maiden name as Hannah Staples. It seemed the deeper I dug the more question that came up with each tiny piece of data. William applied for a land grant in 1851 based on his service as a militia captain at Erie in 1814, his post office is Oil Creek. In 1855 he applies for a further land grant, states his age as 75 and he received 50 acre warrant, his post office is Titusville. A Hannah McGinnis was accepted into the First Presbyterian Church in Titusville in 1840. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission confirmed that a William McGinnis was commissioned a Captain during the period 1800-1807 the commission being withheld on account of courtsmartial? Further that a William McGinnis was commissioned a Captain during the period 1807-1810. That was confusing to say the least. The Western Press Mercer County mentioned that in 1814 Mrs William McGinnis had died. No maiden name nor first name. The only thing that this did was confirm that William and Hannah Staples were married for the second time. It was by accident that I looked at the History of Venango County just to the south. On page 566 part of the puzzle was solved when it mentioned that one Elisha Archer born 1801 settled on 400 acres in Cherrytree Township (right below Crawford). It mentioned he returned to his former home and married Miss "Hannah Staples." Now it fit, eldest son named Elisha Archer McGinnis, just south of Crawford county, he died in 1813. In the November term 1824 the petition of William McGinnis, Hannah McGinnis late Hannah Archer Administrix of Elisha Archer was filed. Later Isaac Archer sued to recover the land (half of 400 acres) that was owed to him as his father and Elisha were brothers and were to divide the land equally. It wasn't until I stumbled over a "McGinness and Scott Familes and their branches" by Samuel McGinness and Mary R. Ford that matters cleared up a bit. William McGinness was born in County Down Ireland and came to Carlisle before moving to Stauton VA and then into Crawford county. It makes sense that William would follow his uncle. It mentions that his death was prior to an 1817 deed. This was also probably the "commission being withheld on account of courtsmartial." What is not clear is the 1840 membership in Titusville of Hannah. If William was an elder in Kerr's Hill did she leave him?
History of Venango County, Pennsylvania
Chicago, Ill.: Brown, Runk & Co., 1890.
1818-1819 Cherrytree Township constable William McGinnis
Kerrs Hill Presbyterian Church was formed from the membership of the Titusville Church. Quite a number of the members dwelt in this locality, and Rev. George W. Hampson, the Titusville pastor, for their accommodation held occasional services in the schoolhouse at Kerrs Hill. Soon after his ministry closed in 1853, the present frame church edifice at Kerrs Hill was built, and its supporters withdrew from Titusville and organized a separate congregation. Revs. Samuel Wykoff, William Elliott, William Smith, John McLaughlin and S. B. Stevenson have ministered here. The last named is the present pastor, and commenced his labors in January, 1883, devoting one-half his time to Kerrs Hill and one-half to Pleasantville, Venango County. The membership is sixty. Early elders were: Peter T. Curry, William McGinnis and William Kerr. The present session consists of G. A. Conover, Amos Hancox and A. B. Kerr.
Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History & Biography 1885 "Township Histories."
CHAPTER XXVII. TROY TOWNSHIP
ignorance of the presence of the other. Then a contest for possession often would ensue. Many settled on Holland tracts, expecting that through settlement they could hold them directly from the State. On Holland Tract 8, in the northeast corner of Troy, Charles Ridgway, in 1800, determined to locate. He had come from Fayette County, in 1799, and during the ensuing winter he repaired the Holland saw-mill, in Oil Creek Township. In the spring of 1800 he erected a double saw-mill on Oil Creek at the place called Newtontown, and returning to Fayette County for necessary irons for the mill, he left William Kerr in charge, with directions to build a cabin. John Reynolds, of Scotch-Irish blood, commenced the erection of a cabin on the same tract. William Kerr soon learned of it, and jealous in his employers cause, with intent to dispose of the conflicting freehold at a blow, one evening felled a tree across the partially-constructed cabin and crushed it. Mr. Reynolds accepted the course of events very quietly, and when Kerr had finished the Ridgway cabin, took possession of it. Kerr awaited his opportunity and when Ridgway was absent, carried out the furniture, placed a lock on the door and fastened it. Matters were finally amicably settled between them. Mr. Ridgway operated this mill and remained on the tract for three years. He afterward became a resident of Hydetown. John Reynolds remained on Tract 8 for awhile, then settled on Tract 10, farther south. He was killed by the falling of a tree limb, while lumbering near Clarion River. William Maginnis had settled in the eastern part of Troy, on Tract 9, in 1798, and remained a number of years. He had come from the Susquehanna and was of Irish extraction.
The first permanent pioneer of the western part of the township was James Luse, who, toward the close of the last century set out with his brothers, David and Nathaniel, from their home in Essex County, N. J., for French Creek. Mr. Luse had in his native State been in the employ of William Shotwell, who afterward became the agent for Fields claim, and at whose suggestion it was that Mr. Luse came West. David and Nathaniel settled in the western part of the county, but the country was too wild and desolate and marshy, and they soon removed to Redstone. James settled with his family at Meadville, and commenced making improvements on a tract of land six miles distant, near the Cussewago, every Monday morning going with his men from Meadville with provisions, prepared by Mrs. Luse, sufficient to last all the week. The products of their labor proved to be "sick wheat." The grain possessed the quality, not uncommon in a wild country, of producing illness in whomsoever consumed it. It was consequently worthless, and Mr. Luse sought out a new locality for his future home. About 1801 he settled on a tract of Fields claim, located in the south part of present Troy, just east of the Sixth Donation District, on the site of Liberty Schoolhouse, near the east branch of Sugar Creek The old road from Fort Franklin to Fort Le B?uf, made and used by the French, passed through this farm, and it was largely with the intention of keeping a tavern on this road that Mr. Luse removed to the wilderness. The road was not improved as was expected, and there was little travel by the place. Instead, the pike was built a few years later through Meadville. For years Mr. Luse dwelt with his family in the deep recesses of the forest, remote from neighbors, surrounded only by the wild denizens of the wilderness. He was a stone-mason by trade and remained on his farm till death in September, 1836, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, leaving four children: Rachel, wife of Andrew Proper; Shubal; Lydia, wife of James Williams; and Eliza, married at the age of fourteen to William Williams, and now the wife of Jonathan Benn.
In the 1860 census he (George B. McGinnis) is living in Plum Township PO Perry PA age 38 a hotel keeper with a Sam'l D. Fajundus as head of family (assume hotel owner?). His father Wm McGinnis age 79 is there also. Where he went after 1860 until his death in 1897 is a mystery.
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1780 - 1866 (86 years)
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