JOHN AND ISABELLA MACKEY

About a year ago, I found the book  "The Mackey Family of Horse Valley, Franklin County, Pennsylvania" by Myra J. Fields ([posthumously), Nellie Mackey Ziemba and Wayne D. Mackey, Jr., revealing the Mackey emigrants from Inverness, Scotland to Pennsylvania in 1729. It was a thrill for me to think that I had perhaps discovered our Mackey emigrants after reading the story of these Mackeys. It's an interesting story and I will share it with you  tonight. I am not completely convinced that John and Isabella are our ancestors yet. But, there are many  reasons to remain hopeful about them. Perhaps you readers will feel the same way about them.

John Mackey was born in County Down, Ireland in 1682. At the young age of seven in 1689, he witnessed first hand, the "Defense of Derry". (The photo above shows the canon behind the updated walls of Derry, Ireland.) The decisive battles involving the Jacobites' cause were fought in  Ireland which was accessible to French naval power, troops and supplies.  In March 1689, James II left France for Ireland in an attempt to regain his throne.  His armies won most of the country but a prolonged resistance was put up by the people of Derry, who were eventually relieved by an English fleet in July 1689...a day still to be celebrated in Northern Ireland. The people of Derry were crammed in behind their city walls for those three months needing food, rest, water, and probably a bath or two. What courage and fortitude they had!

When John was 30, he made his way to Inverness, Scotland where he met and married Isabella (maiden name unknown). They started their family in Inverness but in the latter part of the 1720s they left Scotland from Edinburgh, with a group of Scotch Presbyterians, and landed in Philadelphia, PA. They brought one daughter and some of their sons with them to America.

Many of these immigrants settled along the Octorara Creek, which now forms the southwest boundary of Chester County, separating it from the county of Lancaster County. For many years there was a dispute between Maryland and PA as to the extent of the Calvert and Penn grants by the King of England.  These early settlers never really knew which colony they lived in. One of John's sons, Robert,  permanently settled in Chester County after 1729. Other sons settled near Upper Strasburg on 300 acres. John and son, William, settled in what eventually became the "Horse Valley" of Franklin County, PA.

 William's son, Robert, our ancestor, was born in Franklin County. One of the problems here, however, is that our  Robert's bible says that his father's name was James Mackey! This book about the Mackeys of Horse Valley say that our ancestor, Robert, of Welsh Run, was William's son. The book also lists many details about the Welsh Run Mackeys that match my facts and records. So, you now know my dilemma and confusion and why I am not totally convinced. Perhaps my new DNA test will prove this connection, wish me luck!

BERNARDUS AND GRIETJE DECKER SWARTWOUT

Grietje Margaret Decker was born in Raysester, Ulster, New York (now called Rochester, New York) on the 8th of March in 1696. She was christened on the 31st of March in 1700, at age 4. Her future husband, Bernardus Coobes Swartwout, was born the 31st of October in 1697 in Kingston, Ulster, New York. Grietje and Bernardus were married in Kingston on the 6th of October in 1720. Here is the list of their big family:

1722 Anthony in NY
1725 Lea in Rochester, NY
1726 Jacobus in Ulster City, NY
1728 Bernardus in NY
1730 Thomas in Peen Pack, NY
1732 Benjamin in Peen Pack, NY
1734 Jannetje in Peenpack, NY
1735 Sarah in Upper Smithfield, Pike, PA (our ancestor)
1736 Margaret in Peen Pack, Orange, New Jersey
1740 Elizabeth in Peenpack, Orange, NJ
1747 Maria in NJ
1749 Johannes in Lehman Twp., Northampton, PA

Grietje died in 1770 in Montague, New Jersey. Bernardus died in 1773 in Lehman Township, Northampton, Pennsylvania.

BERNARDUS COOBES SWARTWOUT
BORN: 31 Oct 1697 in Kingston, Ulster, NY
MARRIED: 6 Oct 1720 in Kingston, Ulster, NY
DIED: 1773 in Lehman Twp., Northampton, PA

GRIETJE MARGARET DECKER
BORN: 8 Mar 1696 in Raysester, Ulster, NY
DIED: 1770 in Montague, NY
SOURCES: Mrs. Elsie Foster, Compiler of "Our Brokaw-Bragaw Heritage" with additions made by Mr. H. Minot Pitman and the Brokaw Family Committee. 

THE FAMILY OF JOHN AND MARY CURWIN PAR

John Par was baptized in Thorney, Nottinghamshire, England on the 4th of January in 1694.  His future wife was born in 1702 on Long Island, Suffolk County, NY. John evidently arrived in America in the early 1700s, met Mary Curwin, and married her when she was only 16, on the 19th of December in 1718 on Long Island, Suffolk, NY.

From Wikipedia re Long Island:
"Both the longest and the largest island in the contiguous United States, Long Island extends 118 miles eastward from New York Harbor to Montauk Point, with a maximum north-to-south distance of 23 miles between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic coast. With a land area of 1,401 square miles, Long Island is the 11th-largest island in the United States and the 149th-largest island in the world—larger than the 1,214 square miles of the smallest U.S. state, Rhode Island."

Mary and John had the following children, all born on Long Island:
1720 John, Jr.
1721 Matthias
1722 Cornelius
1724 Hannah, our ancestor
1725 Jesse L.
1728 Elihu
1730 Jemima
1732 Eliphalet

Mary died on the 12 of Jul 1732 on Long Island, Queens, NY at age 30.

On the 25th of June in 1749, John wrote his own will and asked Elijah Horton, Phebe Horton, and Nathaniel Horton to witness and sign the will, which they did. The next day, John Par died on Long Island, Suffolk County, New York.

JOHN PAR
BORN: 4 Jan 1694 in Thorney, Nottinghamshire, England
MARRIED: 19 Dec 1718 in Long Island, Suffolk, NY
DIED: 26 Jan 1749 in Long Island, Suffolk, NY

MARY CURWIN
BORN: 1702 in Long Island, Suffolk, NY
DIED: 12 Jul 1732 in Long Island, Queens, NY
SOURCES: New York City Marriages 1675-1920; New York Genealogical Records 1675-1920; Family Search IGI Vital Records of John Par.

SUSANNAH ADAMS

Our sixth great-grandmother, Susannah Adams, was born in Providence, Montgomery, PA in 1697... 320 years ago! I find it amazing to be thinking about Susannah today...our ancestor who I had never heard about before I became a family historian. This afternoon, I spent a few hours learning  where she lived and bore her children in her short time period of 50 years. For instance, I learned that Providence Township was in southeastern Pennsylvania. Initially the township was part of Philadelphia County, which gives me the idea that the Custers were living close to the city of Philadelphia in their first years of marriage. Susannah and Conrad Custer were married in Montgomery County in 1715 and started their family there. Here are their children's names and birth years below:
1716 Charity
1718 Arnold
1722 William, our ancestor
1729 Susannah
1730 John
1730 Paul
1732 Nicolas
1735 Conrad
1738 Isaac
1740 Ezekial
1741 Benjamin
1741 Noah
1745  Catherine

According to Conrad's records, he and his sons moved to Virginia c. 1762. However, in Susannah's records, Susannah was in Brock's Gap, Augusta, VA when she died, in 1747, and was buried at  the Custard  Family Cemetery in Fulks Run, Augusta, VA. This discrepancy prompted the reason why I spent time looking at these locations, trying to find some substantial evidence for the truth of this matter. Well, I didn't solve the problem but here are some more words about their residences in Virginia:
Today, Fulks Run is an unincorporated community, full of deer and guns, located in Rockingham  County, VA. It is located north of Harrisonburg and south of Bergton, just to the west of Broadway on route 259, near the border of West Virginia and the edge of George Washington National Forest. The North Fork Shenandoah River flows past the community. 
"The town is made up of almost 4 stores, which means gun stores make up 25 percent of Fulks Run's economy, if it had one. It includes Fulks Run Elementary School, and that really shady forest behind the school. Fulks Run also has Turner Hams, where you can buy ham. The Fulks Run Ruritan Park is a popular get together spot to drink a quick beer with a friend and watch a quick game on the baseball field. This small town also includes the childhood home of legendary superstar George Michael, the greater member of Wham!"[quoted from a blurb about the early settlers and villages of the Shenandoah Valley.]

Brock's Creek lies in northern Rockingham County. It is a north flowing tributary of Turley Creek, which discharges into the North Fork of the Shenandoah near Brock's Gap. 

Now you know as much as I do about the Custer's places of residence. I had hoped to find some comments about the Custers being early settlers in Brock's Gap c. 1745, but didn't. Therefore, I am letting the records of this family speak for themselves until I find better evidence of WHEN they ALL  lived in Virginia. 


SUSANNAH ADAMS
BORN: 1697 in Providence, Montgomery, PA
MARRIED: 1715 in , Montgomery, PA
DIED: 1 Feb 1747 in Brock's Gap, August
a, VA
BURIED: Custard Family Cemetery in Fulks Run, Augusta, VA
SOURCES:
Mrs. Elsie Foster, "Our Brokaw/Bragaw Heritage"; Find a Grave.

CONRAD CUSTER

Conrad was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1690.  His father sent him to the Freinds School, taught by the learned Francis Daniel Pastorius who was a Quaker.

As the Germantown area became settled,  Conrad and his family and some of the other original families of Germantown departed, c. 1714, to an area twenty miles west of Philadelphia further up the Shuykill River. These German Mennonites brought the linen making business to the community, along with their farming skills, to the vicinity of Perkiomen Creek and Skippack Creek to a point where travel by boat became impossible because of shallow water. This point is where Skippack Creek crosses Skippack Pike in Skippack Township. The origin of the name "Skippack" came from early German settlers, originally spelled Schippach, named after a town of the same name in the Bayern region of Germany South East of Frankfurt.

                                  SKIPPACK CREEK


Conrad married Susannah Adams soon after moving to this new location.  Some time later, Conrad Custer appears as a signer of the Faulkner's Swamp Petition in 1728 seeking protection from the Indians at Skippack (now Montgomery County). On January 14, 1732/3 he paid quick rents (3 shillings and 4 pence and 5 shillings for 102 acres in the Skippack area for 10 years in full. He was listed in 1734 as a landholder of 100 acres in Franconia Township of the Philadelphia County (at that time).

 In 1738 he lived in Bucks County, PA near the Delaware River having "a hundred and a half acres"  along Tinicum Creek in Tinicum Twp. In 1754 he acquired 100 acres and 50 acres in Mockamixon Twp. 

Conrad and a few of his children moved to Brock's Gap, VA in 1762 where he bought 160 acres from Joseph and Rachell Dictom for 130 pounds on the North Branch of the Shaenandoah near Clover Lick, Augusta County (now in Rockingham County). He died February 1, 1772. Having left  no will, his wish by his own words was carried out, the estate was sold and the money divided among his children. The story goes that he had many children - three daughters and from twenty-four to twenty-seven sons, and the sons supposedly fought in the Revolutionary War. 

CONRAD CUSTER
BORN:1695 in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA
MARRIED: 1715 in Skippack, Montgomery, PA
DIED: 1 Feb 1772 in Brock's Gap, Augusta, VA
SOURCES: Book:Mrs. Elsie Foster, "Our Brokaw/Bragaw Heritage"; FamilySearch.org "The Biography of Conrad Custer"