Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Their captivity did not last long afterward, as the treaty of Fort Stanwix released all prisoners; but the temporary arrangement agreed upon by them as captives, seems to have resulted favorably, for Horatio Jones and Sarah Whitmore were married by the celebrated missionary minister, Rev. Samuel Kirkland at Schenectady, in December [1784].

After a short visit to the old home in Pennsylvania, we learn of Mrs. Jones returning to New York, where her husband had established a trading post. Her first home was at Seneca Falls; from this point they moved to Geneva, where the first baby-"little Billy"-was born in December, 1786.

Mrs. Jones enjoyed the distinction of being the only white woman in that whole region and her baby with the sandy hair and blue eyes, the first white child born in the State west of Utica. Another boy, George, was born at Geneva in June, 1788.

In 1789, at the earnest request of the Senecas, the family came overland, through the unbroken forest, to the Genesee country, where they were to make a new home. Here, close to the Genesee River, on a portion of a large tract of land given to her husband by the Seneca Indians, Mrs. Jones went to housekeeping again. She had brought with her Sally Griffith, a servant girl, and the two women soon succeeded in making a home, with the bedding and whatever else could be brought from Geneva, over the trail, on horseback. Social needs were not great at that time, as the only guests were likely to be the Indian women from Little Beard's Town, nearby-if we except the trappers and friends of her husband.

In December, 1789, Hiram Jones, her third child, was born in the new house; and now, indeed, the mother's time was occupied. Much of the time her husband was away on business, as he had been appointed interpreter for the Senecas by the Government. At such times Mrs. Jones and her family were the only white people for miles. But she was never afraid, because the Indians held them as relatives, according to their rite of adoption, and no harm would come from that source.

James Jones, the fourth boy, was born in March of 1791.

He was the only one of the children who resembled his mother, inheriting from her his dark hair and eyes and a dark complexion.

Sally Griffiths seems to have returned to Pennsylvania about this time; and but a few weeks later, the life of the brave little mother came to a close, surrounded only by the Indian women. Even her husband was absent from home, on some urgent business, to which she had insisted he should attend. The news of his loss was conveyed to him, as he sprang from his horse beside the lonely little home in the fcrest.

The funeral which followed was as impressive as it was sad. Hiram Jones was but three years old at his mother's death, but the memory of the event remained clear upon his mind when an old man. The body was borne ahead on the shoulders of stalwart Indians; the little boy wrapped in a blanket by the squaw who held him before her on the horse, cried dismally, he scarcely knew why. The father and two other children followed on foot. The rain came down steadily and the tall gloomy trees surrounded them. Along the narrow trail through the silent forest the little procession made its way to the banks of the Genesee, which was crossed, then on again a little farther, where the grave was made in the side of a grassy knoll-facing her former home, left desolate. Here, laid to rest by the hands of her red brothers, Sarah Whitmore Jones has slept for more than a century.*

When the demands of official and social life required of Horatio Jones a more pretentious residence than the little home on the Flats, he selected site on the summit of the hill, overlooking the grave of his wife, and named the place "Sweet Briar," where he spent the rest of his life.

Even after the lapse of so many years, we may still find traces of the tender reverence borne for the memory of Sarah Whitmore. A daughter of her husband's second marriage bore her name, and the only daughter of each of her two surviving sons was named for their mother.

NOTE. The name of the daughter of William Jones was afterward changed to Julia, for reasons which she herself explained to the writer.

Mrs. Jones died in June, 1792. Charles Jones stated to Mr. Harris that she was buried in the Indian burying-ground, "where the railroad gravel-pit now is, on the south side of the creek." No trace of it now can be found.

NOTES ON THE

ANCESTRY AND DESCENDANTS OF

HORATIO JONES.*

I. ANCESTRY.

Rev. Malachi Jones, founder of the Abingston and Downington branches of the Jones family of Pennsylvania, was born in Wales about 1651. He entered the ministry at an early age, and is reported to have been at one time established in London, though there is little proof of this. He married Mary about 1681-2.

Benjamin, their first child, was born in March, 1683; Ann, in 1686; Mary, in 1688; Elizabeth, Martha, Malachi and Joshua doubtless prior to 1700, but the exact dates of their births have not been found.

During the first decade of the 18th century large numbers of Welsh left their native land for America and settled mainly in Pennsylvania. Among the new colonists were several families named Jones. Doubtless some were relatives of the Rev. Malachi and possibly through their influence and other outgoing friends, he was persuaded, about 1714, to emigrate to Pennsylvania, settling at Abington, fourteen miles north of Philadelphia. In September, 1714, Mr. Jones was received into fellowship by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, which had then been organized eight years and numbered eleven ministers. During that year a church organization was perfected at Abington with Rev. Malachi Jones as pastor. The First Presbyterian Church, or Great Valley Church, was organized in 1714, and the Rev. Malachi Jones officiated as pastor till 1720. This church is about twenty miles, in an air line, from Abington, and Mr. Jones no doubt officiated in both congregations.

August 25, 1719, Rev. Mr. Jones deeded to certain trustees for ten shillings in silver, one half acre of land to "build a house of worship thereon and bury the dead." On this ground the congre

Compiled from MSS. left by George H. Harris, and from data supplied by Mrs. Sarah J. E. Gunn of Leavenworth, Kas., Mrs. Frederick Law Olmsted, Brookline, Mass., and Mrs. Anna Jones Prettyman Howland of Chicago.

gation erected a log building, said to have been the first place of public worship possessed by the Presbyterian denomination within the limits of Montgomery County.

The Rev. Malachi Jones was buried in the graveyard of the church he founded and his tombstone, a large flat slab supported upon four pieces of brick, is still to be seen there bearing the following inscription:

[blocks in formation]

At the foot of the stone is the grave of the Rev. Mr. Jones's granddaughter Mary: also that of her husband, the Rev. Richard Treat, the second pastor of Abington Church, who died November 29, 1779, after a ministry of nearly fifty years.

Of the children of the Rev. Malachi Jones, Benjamin married Katharine Crusan, October 12, 1717. They had ten children, as follows: Malachi, 1718; Elizabeth, 1721; Samuel, 1722; Benjamin, 1725; Mary, 1727; Joshua, 1732; Henry, 1734; Katherine, 1736; John, 1739; Ann, 1741.

Benjamin Jones died at Abington November 10, 1748. Ann married the Rev. David Evans and died January 7, 1754. Mary married Abenego Thomas and had six children. (Her eldest daughter, Mary, was the wife of Rev. Richard Treat, and had five children.) Joshua married Hannah Givin, September 6, 1735; Elizabeth married David Parry, January 6, 1727; Martha married John Parry, November 5, 1729; Malachi, 2nd, married Mary Parry, November 27, 1729.

Malachi Jones, son of the Rev. Malachi and Mary Jones, was born probably about 1695, in Wales, and emigrated with his parents to America prior to September, 1714. He married, November 27, 1729, Mary Parry, daughter of James and Ann Parry, the marriage of whose children brought the Jones and Parry families into close relationship, three of their children having married three children of the Rev. Malachi and Mary Jones. James and Ann Parry came from Wales probably as early as 1712, as a deed of 100 acres of land in Fredyffrin, Stony Valley Township, Pennsylvania, their home, was dated January 20, 1713.

Malachi, 2nd, succeeded his father in possession of the homestead in Abington, where his aged mother continued to reside. In

June, 1747, he purchased a lot on Fourth Street, Philadelphia. He removed about 1753 to Whiteland Township, Chester County, and died the next year. His will, dated August 12, 1753, appoints his wife Mary, executrix and directs her to "dispose of all my estate to the use that therefrom she may cheerfully maintain my weak and feeble children . . . eldest son Horatio to be joint executor. all my children, Horasho, Esther, Martha, Malachi, Ruth, Stephen, William, Lynand and Abenego."

William, the seventh child of Malachi (2nd) and Mary Parry Jones, was born about 1741-2, while his parents resided at the old homestead in Abington. He married in 1762 Elizabeth Hunter, daughter of John and Ann Hunter of Downington, Pa., and they became residents of Downington about that time. They had seven children, viz.: HORATIO JONES, the eldest, born November 19, 1763; George; Esther; Ann; Mary; John Hunter; William.

About 1769 William Jones moved to Baltimore Co., Maryland, where John H. was born. He returned to Pennsylvania about 1771-2 and settled in Bedford County.

John Hunter, Sen., was born in County York, England, in 1667. He was a trooper with his friend Anthony Wayne at the battle of the Boyne, and settled at Rathween, County of Wicklow, Ireland. He married Margrate about 1693. In 1722, Mr. Hunter and Anthony Wayne emigrated to the Pennsylvania Colony and settled in what is now Newtown Township, Bucks Co., Pennsylvania, where Mr. Hunter purchased 1,000 acres of land. He died in 1734, being buried at St. David's Church, Radnor, Pennsylvania. John and Margrate Hunter had nine children, viz.: George Hunter, who settled in Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, and became proprietor of a large estate; John Hunter (2d); Peter, a soldier in the French War; William, married Hannah Woodward in 1740; James; Mary, married William Hill, an emigrant from Wales; Ann; Elizabeth; Margrate (2d).

John Hunter, Jr., son of John and Margrate Hunter; settled at Downington in Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, thirty miles from Philadelphia, and accumulated a large amount of real and personal property. He married Ann

dren, namely: James, died in 1781; Buell; Ann, married Col. Thomas

and had eight chilMargrate, married William Buell; Mary, married Eli

« ZurückWeiter »