Monday, April 26, 2010

Rock Creek Church


Pictured above - Rock Creek Church, Cecil County, Maryland

By the banks of the Little Elk Creek, in the rolling countryside of northern Maryland, stands the lovely Rock Presbyterian Church. Nearby is a outcropping of black rock from which the name is derived.

In our last post, we examined the possibility that Rebecca Bradford and her husband, William Miller, were associated with the Presbyterian Church because of their connections to the Scots-Irish community. Could it be possible that this is the church they attended? Read on and you will find some fascinating clues!

"Rev. James Finley (February 4, 1725- January 6, 1795) was an American Presbyterian minister and politician who may have owned the home in which the original draft of United States Declaration of Independence was written... James Finley was born on February 4, 1725 in Northern Ireland, the son of Michael Finley and Anne O'Neill. He was the brother of Rev. Samuel Finley, who served as fifth president of the College of New Jersey (later known as Princeton University) from 1761 until 1766.

"James Finley became a Presbyterian Minister and served at Rock Church (East Nottingham) in Cecil County, Maryland. In his own day he was principally known for establishing three congregations of Presbyterians in western Pennsylvania in the areas of Fayette and Westmoreland Counties.

"The original settlers of this region were Scotch Presbyterians who had been driven by persecution and oppression from Ireland. They commenced migrating to this country about the beginning of the eighteenth century. The chief landing places were Philadelphia and New-Castle [Delaware]; and from these centres they scattered throughout Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and as far south as North Carolina. They were a resolute, determined people, who had principles and dared maintain them, who had a religious faith, and for it would endure any suffering and incur any sacrifice. In this wild wilderness of America they sought religious freedom and found it. Though widely scattered from each other, we soon hear of them erecting meeting-houses, and travelling many miles for the purpose of worshipping the living God.

"In the spring of 1720 we find no Presbyterian church in Cecil Co., Md., nearer than Bohemia Manor, none in Delaware nearer than White-Clay-Creek, and none in Chester Co., Penna., nearer than the Great Valley. The scattered people had been occasionally visited by ministers of the Gospel, but they yearned and longed to have 'the Gospel settled among them.' Preachers were scarce and the people poor, and it was both difficult to secure and to support a minister. But at a meeting of New-Castle Presbytery, May 18th, 1720, we find the following record: “A certain number of people lately come from Ireland, having settled about the branches of Elk river... Through Mr. Finley’s influence, many of the early citizens of this region, as well as members of the church, settled in Western Pennsylvania. In about twenty years, thirty-four families, chiefly young married persons connected with this congregation, migrated to that locality. They being neighbors, and closely related, sought settlements near each other, but were unable to do so, and had to scatter over a district forty miles long. Thus scattered, they united with different churches, and became the very pillars of many struggling congregations. They were most efficient men, and, by their piety, generous efforts and gifts, did a great work in sustaining the first ministers of Western Pa. Out of the thirty-four families, twenty-two of their heads became elders, among whom were Judge Allison, Judge McDowell, James Bradford, Henry Graham, Robert Barr, James and Samuel Fleming, John Wright, Robert Moore, John Powers, John Allen, and Samuel, Ebenezer, Joseph, Michael and William Finley, all sons of the Rev. James Finley..." (http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdcecil/church/rockpresb.htm)

There are so many clues in this quotation (see bolded items above)! Consider that our Miller and Bradford families lived along the Elk River in Maryland and a few miles away in New Castle County, Delaware. William and Rebecca eventually moved from their home in Cecil County, Maryland, to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, which is one of the places Rev. Finley's followers settled. Most convincing of all, the James Bradford mentioned above is Rebecca's uncle! And his in-laws included the Allison's and McDowell's.

I believe that that our William and Rebecca attended, or at least visited on occasion, this lovely church in Cecil County, Maryland and may have even been part of that group of "chiefly young married persons" who were strongly influenced by the Reverend Finley to relocate to Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Hopefully future research will verify this theory.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Rebecca Married

According to family legend, William Miller, a young man of around 29 years of age, visited the home and Samuel and Sarah Bradford. Their baby daughter, Rebecca, lay in the cradle. Upon seeing the child, William was so taken with her that he vowed to wait till she grew up so that he could marry her. Apparently this is precisely what happened.

However, the records are then completely silent about Rebecca's life for the next 18 or 19 years, till her marriage in 1778. In the summer of that year on the 13th day of June, Rebecca and William were married in Elkton, Maryland, by a minister *William Thompson (see footnote below).

William was now 46 years old, 29 years her senior! We have found no records to indicate that he was married before. Apparently this was his first and only marriage. If the legend is true, what motivated William to make such a pledge so many years earlier? What motivated him to keep that promise through the long, lonely years that ensued? This is truly one of the most intriguing stories in our entire family tree!

It is tantalizing to make this into a dramatic love story, but was it so? They had lived near each other and must have had contact over the years. As she entered her teens, did Rebecca fall in love with William? Or was it an arranged marriage between William and her parents with little love on her part? Did she learn to love him over the years? Or were they head-over-heels in love all their lives? Unless she kept a diary or journal that miraculously surfaces someday (be still my heart!), this will truly remain one of our own personal "History's Mysteries"! I personally am rooting for the head-over-heels version!

Another interesting aspect of their marriage is that they wed in the midst of the Revolutionary War. While no major battles were fought in that part of Maryland, British and American troops traveling through that area was not uncommon. Did William serve? There are conflicting opinions which we will discuss in a future post. But to be newly married during the American Revolution must have presented a unique topic of conversation over the dinner table!

Rebecca bore William 7 sons and 1 daughter over the ensuing years. She and William farmed the land in Maryland while the children were young, then moved to western Pennsylvania (Fayette County) around 1783, where they lived out their lives. It is no surprise that, with such a great age difference, Rebecca was left a widow for many years, though not as many as one would expect since William lived to the ripe old age of 84! He died in 1814 when his wife was 55 years old, and she outlived him by over 20 years.

Some of Rebecca's children and grandchildren lived nearby during this time. She also had the companionship of her mother, Sarah, for the first 10 of those years. This must have been a great comfort and helped to relieve some of the loneliness.

In March 1835, some 57 years after her wedding in that summer of long ago, this good lady passed away at the age of 76. I like to think that William, who again had to wait many long years for his Rebecca, welcomed her with open arms.


Footnote: It is puzzling that William and Rebecca were married by Rev. Thompson, as he apparently was an Anglican minister (according to: http://www.hmdb.org/results.asp?County=Cecil%20County&State=Maryland). Rebecca had assuredly been raised Presbyterian by her Scots-Irish father [we're not sure about her mother], and extensive research by a fellow-researcher, Chalmers Williams, indicates that William also was of Scots-Irish heritage. This would strongly suggest that they were Presbyterian. Perhaps it was simply that Rev. Thompson was the closest minister in the area.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here is a link to a wonderful site which describes life in colonial Maryland in Talbot County, Cecil County's neighbor to the south. This family is not connected to our Bradford's and Miller's, but it still gives great insight into the era, as it is a first-person account. Sorry it didn't come through as a link; you will have to cut and paste it into your address box, but I promise it is worth the read!: Go to: http://www.vanderfordfamily.com/html/maryland.htm

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Rebecca - Her Early Life

[Photo to Right: A Farm in Northern Ireland]

Our progenitor, Rebecca Bradford Miller, grew up during the colonial period, born around 1760 in the Cecil County, Maryland area. She was the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Bradford.

Samuel was born in 1727, probably in Northern Ireland, being of Scots-Irish descent. We have almost no information about him, however more is written about his brother (Rebecca's uncle) James Bradford, probably by virtue of the fact that James was the father of the infamous David Bradford of Whiskey Rebellion fame. James was born in Ireland in 1716 (http://www.fritziinc.com/tree/pafg1135.htm#29915). He may have immigrated to America some time around 1740. His son, David, (Rebecca's infamous cousin) was born in 1756 in Cecil County. Samuel and Sarah were probably married by then and living nearby.

Rebecca's brother were David, Samuel and William. David was born in 1765, married Barbara Grimes, settled in Adams County, PA, and was well known locally as being "General Bradford" who built the Wayside Inn. Samuel died young. William was born in 1770, married Margaret Parkinson, and would someday become involved in the Whiskey Rebellion with his cousin David (see previous posts). Rebecca had a sister named Jane whom we know nothing about.

Their mother Sarah, was the daughter of Samuel Bradford (as mentioned in previous posts, yes, Rebecca's father was a Samuel Bradford and her mother's father was a Samuel Bradford - no known connection). Sadly, almost nothing is known about Sarah, other than in later years she would move to Fayette County, PA, with Rebecca and her husband, William Miller.

We will probably never know anything about the personality of Rebecca's father, and we can only paint a broad stroke about the Scots-Irish in general. One online source paints a not-too-appealing picture, claiming they were "determined, pragmatic, insensitive, aesthetically deficient, honest, clever, learned, diligent, thrifty, hardworking, dedicated, narrow-minded Calvinist[s]" http://www.faithinwriting.com/Waddel/TheScotch-Irish.htm

However, this same article does point out that since they believed everyone should be able to read the Bible, the Scots-Irish were also the "greatest single force for the educational progress" during this time period.

If the Bradford brothers attended school, Rebecca and Jane probably did not, as was the custom. This is borne out by the fact that in a later land record, Rebecca did not sign her name, but merely "made her mark."

So how did Sarah and her daughters spend a typical day? From an online source we learn that "Colonial housewives and cooks began their days very early by modern standards. They built the fire, carried water, gathered fresh fruits and vegetables for the day's meals from the kitchen garden, got meat from the smokehouse, and prepared breakfast. This meal usually consisted of mush with milk, which was sweetened with molasses. The mid-day meal, dinner, was the heaviest, generally served between noon and 3 pm. This meal was commonly a stew, the ingredients of which varied with the seasons. The advantage of serving stew was that it required little tending from the housewife and required only one pot. Puddings could also be steamed in fabric bags suspended above the cooking pot of stew. Individual portions of meat and vegetables were uncommon in the colonies until the 1700's, and then were had by well-to-do colonists. Supper, the evening meal, was generally warmed up leftovers.

Women trained girls to be wives and mothers by having them help around the house. Girls helped with cooking, preserving food, caring for children, cleaning the house, washing clothes and gardening. They milked cows, churned butter, and made cheese. Girls' work was important to cloth making. After the men and boys grew flax and sheared sheep, girls and single women did the spinning, knitting, sewing, and sometimes weaving. Girls spun wool and flax so that it could be woven into fabric or knitted into socks, hats, scarves, and mittens. They usually brought yarn to weavers to have cloth woven and they used the cloth to make clothing and sacks. Girls sewed by hand, with strong, tiny stitches that would hold clothes together during many washings over years of wear." http://www.iroquoisdemocracy.pdx.edu/html/colonialwoman.htm

Rebecca's father no doubt farmed the land there in Cecil County, as virtually all men did in that era in order to provide for their family. Unfortunately, we have no records to indicate if Samuel Bradford was a large land-holder or if he worked a small farm. There is, however, this intriguing clue. In 1767, his wife's father passed away, leaving land in nearby Red Lion Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware. Apparently the family would have lost this property (probably due to outstanding debts) were it not for the fact that Rebecca's father, Samuel, was able to buy this parcel that had belonged to his father-in-law, being "the highest bidder." [Interestingly, they sold it back to Sarah's brother, William, just a few months later in 1768.] This indicates that Samuel was able to fund the purchase price which must have included the outstanding debts.

So at least when Rebecca was a young child (she would have been around 8 years old at this time), her father must have been doing pretty well!

Next time: Rebecca Married