{"id":8160,"date":"2018-01-25T17:10:10","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T22:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/?page_id=8160"},"modified":"2018-01-30T09:44:44","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T14:44:44","slug":"a-brush-with-greatness-the-leslie-cousin-connection-to-george-washington","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/?page_id=8160","title":{"rendered":"A Brush with Greatness: The Leslie \u201cCousin\u201d Connection to George Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

by
\nLarry Pearce
\nfrom inspiration and notes by
\nAunt Edna Ione Gray (1920-1997)<\/a>
\n1\/25\/18<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Commander in Chief George Washington
(1732-1799)<\/p><\/div>\n

This genealogy website has always been meant to be more than the names and dates of people\u00a0<\/span><\/span>to<\/span> whom our family is related. I\u2019ve always kept my eyes and ears peeled for any stories of interesting people<\/span> with <\/span>whom our family is or has been in any way connected. Wife Susan\u2019s interesting family associations have included:<\/span><\/p>\n

Bishop Christian \u201cSchmidt\u201d Miller,<\/a>
\nHanes \u201cIndian John\u201d Miller<\/a>,
\nBishop Michael Beegly<\/a>,
\nAbraham Lincoln and Daniel Boone<\/a>,
\nThe Rambo apple family<\/a>,
\nCattle-coal magnate Daniel Zimmerman<\/a>,
\nLemon \u201cBlack Horse\u201d Grimes<\/a>, and
\nHollywood Actress Katey Sagal.<\/a><\/p>\n

As for my family, we\u2019re directly connected to the Rev. William Jack<\/a>, who was ejected from his Dublin pulpit by English King Charles II in 1661; some other Jacks<\/a>\u00a0and Carnahans<\/a>\u00a0of the French & Indian War and American Revolution; members of the royal court of King George IV through a Pearce-Austin wedding<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>in 1813;\u00a0Major Hugh Torrance;<\/a>\u00a0owners of the company that produced the Pearce Blanket;<\/a>\u00a0the uncle that H.J. Heinz called \u201cThe Tomato King;”<\/a>\u00a0and the President of Geneva College<\/a>.\u00a0I\u2019m sure there are more, and more researching and writing is on the way, but this story is about a distant relative, by marriage, who probably spent time with General\/President George Washington before and during the American War for Independence. That should be enough to pique your curiosity, no?<\/span><\/p>\n

For this article, I\u2019m taking the liberty of calling the subjects \u201ccousins,\u201d in a generic way, even though they may be indirectly related, as in a \u201cstep,\u201d in-law, or not related by blood at all. The word \u201ccousin\u201d comes from the Latin \u201cconsobrinus,\u201d meaning ones mother\u2019s child. One of the ironies is that, though we’re connecting to our Leslie family, the eventual associations stretch to our Norris, Carnahan, Jack, and several other families also. It’s been said that the romantic “pickins'” on the frontier were not that plentiful. Neighbor kids married other young people from church, the market, or where ever there were friendly gatherings. Transportation and social mobility were limited, and in some cases, the families had known each other from back in the Old Country. <\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s spelling of the topic word “cousin,” by the way, comes from the Middle English which came from the French, \u201ccosin.\u201d If you wish to be technical, have a look at the article, \u201cLess Familiar Kinship Terms & Definitions\u201d<\/a>. In these pages we\u2019re considering \u201ccollateral\u201d relationships, or those through marriage, not blood, and perhaps \u201cfictive,\u201d those not related at all but still thought of as part of the family. All this is to introduce you to two men: Captain Phillip Lacey (1742-1777) and (Sargent?) David Ferguson (1745-1831). Some of what follows is family oral tradition, some is conjecture, and some is fact, but it all makes for an interesting story. Even better is that we can follow these folks right into the times and places belonging to our families.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Crude medical treatment during
the American Revolutionary War<\/p><\/div>\n

Captain Lacey sailed from England <\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> to what was then the British Colonies just before the American Revolution. On board ship he met and fell in love with a beautiful young girl, Susannah Pollard (1759-1825)<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> She was about age 16 and much Lacey\u2019s junior. Records of their marriage were lost or kept secret because of, it\u2019s said, security concerns regarding the movement of the military. Susannah conceived and bore a son, Thomas (1777-1856), in the port of Baltimore, but Phillip became desperately ill and was admitted to the hospital in a military camp near the headquarters of General George Washington. It\u2019s unclear whether Phillip was on the side of the British and perhaps was captured or he already had been commissioned and went over to the Colonial cause. If he were a captain, and was taken in by the Americans, we can assume that he was on our side. We don’t know if he was ill, injured, or wounded in battle. The story goes that a handsome military scout<\/a>,\u00a0later\u00a0courier<\/a>, to Washington, an Irishman named David Ferguson <\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>, a few years younger than Lacey, helped to care for the confined captain and look after his wife and baby. Military scouts and couriers to generals in war time always have and had to be very trusted individuals with an unblemished records. Ferguson would personally carry letters, military memos, and documents between camps and armies. He, no doubt would have had access to Washington’s closest circles. Unfortunately, within a year, Captain Lacey had died and Ferguson, who had been appointed his caretaker and apparently\u00a0equally smitten by Susannah, then just 18 years of age, married her. This was\u00a0 NOT part of his official Army duties, but I’m sure he couldn’t help falling in love. And in love they were. In the course of 18 years they produced 8 children, the first of which<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> was born shortly after the war was over. Perhaps in the case of wartime, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” The couple then moved to Western Pennsylvania, probably to claim land that was available to war veterans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Promise of land & new opportunities
on the Western Pennsylvania frontiera<\/p><\/div>\n

By 1787, the young family had relocated farther south, just northeast of Pittsburgh into Plum Township, across the Allegheny River onto 280 acres acquired from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We wonder if they had initially settled too close to Indian territory. Legend has it that David was out working in his field one day, under the watchful eyes of a group of natives, when one fired off a shot that knocked the hat off the young farmer’s head. Ferguson quickly unhitched his horse from the plow and hurried off to deputize his neighbors. Together, they returned to disperse the irritable tribe. Before the 1784 Fort Stanwix treaty between the Colonies and the Six Indian Nations of, all land north of the Allegheny was off limits to white settlers, but some anxious settlers claimed land there anyway. Read more about the Indians of frontier Western Pennsylvania in an earlier article,\u00a0 <\/span>“Meet Native American Guyasuta.”<\/a><\/p>\n

After the treaty, when the natives had picked up and moved farther west, most of my mother’s ancestors claimed farmland north of the river. West Deer Township, Allegheny County, became the home of our early Campbells, Grays, and Leslies. My Great-great-grandfather William Sylvester Gray (1816-1879)<\/a> married Elizabeth Leslie (1818-1895)<\/a>\u00a0a half-century later, and received a portion of the old Leslie farm, which was subsequently worked by generations of Grays.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Leslie-Gray farm & homestead
Bairdford, West Deer Twp., PA<\/p><\/div>\n

The second child of David and Susannah Ferguson, Rebecca, married George R. Leslie (1781-1833), another of our cousins. Their family tree now contains well over 200 descendants. David and Susannah\u2019s fifth and sixth children were twin daughters, \u201cLittle\u201d Susannah and Effie. They married Norris brothers, James and Adam, half-brothers to our Great-great grandfather Robert Norris (1785-1867).\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0David Ferguson sold 122 acres of his 400+ acre estate to son William in 1818 for $1. He had paid $60 for the land. Another Ferguson married into our Carnahan family<\/a> of West Deer Township.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, if the proximity of Phillip Lacey, David Ferguson, and Susannah Pollard to General George Washington and the historical events of the American Revolution isn\u2019t loaded with possibilities, their West Deer ancestors provide unbelievable commonalities. Many are buried in the Bull Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery with our direct line families,\u00a0 linking their surnames with ours for eternity. Here are just a few more \u201ccousin\u201d stories.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Life was hard on the Western
Pennsylvania frontier<\/p><\/div>\n

Thomas Lacey, the only son of Phillip and Susannah Pollard Lacey, was, we believe,\u00a0 adopted by and lived with David and Susannah Ferguson. He married Mary Leslie (b. 1785-aft. 1860), the daughter of William<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and Elizabeth Davidson Leslie of our line. The Rev. Abraham Boyd<\/a>, of the Bull Creek church, who married several of our Gray and Leslie ancestors, conducted that ceremony in 1808. The Laceys purchased a large tract of land near the village of Russellton, once known as Gray\u2019s Mill and reared six children.<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Their second child, George, married another of our step-cousins, Nancy Norris (1817-1876).<\/a> She is remembered to have had bright red hair and fallen overboard<\/a> during the emigration of Robert Norris from Ireland to America. Floating in the waves with her hoop skirt, she was quickly rescued from certain death by lifeboat. Thomas and Mary Leslie Lacey\u2019s youngest son, James (b. 1824), is said to have been the first Burgess or Chief Executive of the thriving riverfront town of Tarentum. The owner-operator of a general store, he built the first brick house in that area. The bricks came from the Norris brickyard in West Deer, owned by a step brother to our Robert Norris. We’re certain the the bricks for the old Bull Creek Church, still standing, came from there too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Old Bull Creek Church & Cemetery<\/p><\/div>\n

Another descendant of Thomas Lacey was William Henry Harrison Lacey (b. 1841), who fought in the Civil War and engaged in the blacksmithing and carriage and wagon building business. He got his name by being born on the same day that our ninth president was inaugurated.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope you found something to interest you in this short story. The best part of posting to a webpage is that, after \u201claying everything (that I know) out on table\u201d for my readers to digest, I can continue to research, write, and post without having to go to the printer and pay to publish, promote, and propagate an update. But, you have to check back here from time to time for those virtual addendums. Until we hypertext again, may I ask, \u201cWith whom is your family associated?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Documentation:<\/span><\/p>\n

West Deer Township: 150 years of History<\/em>, 2004
\nhttp:\/\/www.westdeertownship.com\/340-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Various name postings on Ancestry.com\/boards<\/a><\/p>\n

Bob and Mary Closson. 175 Southwestern Pennsylvania Marriages Performed by Rev. Abraham Boyd (1802-1849).<\/em> Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 1976<\/p>\n

\u201cCemetery Inscriptions from Bull Creek Presbyterian Cemetery, West Deer Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.\u201d 6\/30\/02 HTTP:\/\/FREEPAGES.GENEALOGY.ROOTSWEB.COM\/~NJM1\/BULL.HTM<\/a><\/p>\n

Various postings on FindaGrave.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJames Lacey may have been First Burgess.\u201d Valley Daily News<\/em> (Historical Supplement). 28 June 1947, p. 1<\/span><\/p>\n

Last revised 1\/30\/18<\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Larry Pearce from inspiration and notes by Aunt Edna Ione Gray (1920-1997) 1\/25\/18 This genealogy website has always been meant to be more than the names and dates of people\u00a0to whom our family is related. I\u2019ve always kept my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":250,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8160","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8160"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8175,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8160\/revisions\/8175"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}