UPDATE: Records received from the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society show that my Kline family were NOT Mennonite after all. See “What Information…” post for more. Mennonites are pacifists opposed to war and violence. So, I was surprised to find my Kline ancestors in a Mennonite database on Ancestry.com. On the card for the Michael and Dorothea Kline family, their third child is listed as Frenia [seen as Frances on other records]. She and her husband, Michael Quiggell [seen in other records as Quigley or Quiggle], are my fifth great grandparents. He fought in the American Revolution. I wonder what his...
As our country remembers those who have founght and died for our freedom, I wanted to share stories of two of my family members who died while in service to our country. Revolutionary War – Isaac Vincent In 1772, the Vincent families and others had moved from Essex County, New Jersey, to current day Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. For several years, they lived peacefully near the local Indians. But, trouble started brewing in 1777. By 1779, about 13 families were living in a large, two-story house around which they had built a 12-foot high wall around. It enclosed a half acre...
My 6x great grandparents, Cornelius and Phebe (Ward) Vincent, both fought for freedom during the Revolutionary War. Over 100 years ago, a newspaper journalist visited the cemetery where they had been buried more than 100 years earlier. He wrote a wonderful description of the cemetery, and happened to include the inscription of my ancestor’s headstone! Image of tombstone of Cornelius and Phebe Vincent taken by Jeff Harvey and posted 21 Nov 2012 This headstone is now more than 200 years old and is mostly unreadable. I appreciate Jeff Harvey, a volunteer at Find A Grave, for posting this photo and...
My Vincent ancestors moved from Essex County, New Jersey to Northumberland County, Pennsylvania in the mid to late 1700s. During the Revolutionary War, they were at Fort Freeland when it was attacked by the British and their Indian allies in 1779. The women, children, and elderly men were set free, but the able-bodied men were marched to Canada as prisoners. In 1876, The Columbian published a series of articles titled “History of Columbia County.” The fourth part of this series was published on January 28th and told about the capture of Fort Freeland. Part of the article tells about Bethuel Vincent:...
Fort Freeland (image from Wikipedia) In 1772, the Vincent families and others moved from Essex County, New Jersey, to current day Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. For several years, they lived peacefully near the local “Indians.” But, trouble started brewing in 1777. By 1779, about 13 families were living in a large, two-story house around which they had built a 12-foot high wall around. It enclosed a half acre and they called it Fort Freeland. Life was fairly normal at the fort. Isaac Vincent’s wife gave birth to a son, George, in February of 1779. Two other babies were also born inside...
