Some Pioneers of Washington CO, PA

This family history centers in one of the pioneer families of Washington Co., PA,

Colonel William Wallace and Elizabeth Hopkins, his wife, who were born,

reared and married in Montgomery Co., MD, and built their home in the wilds of

Western PA.

Bibliographic Information: Reader, F.S., Some Pioneers of Washington Co., PA

F.S. Reader & Son Press, New Brighton, PA 1902

Some Pioneers of Washington CO, PA

GenealogyLibrary.com Main Page

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SOME PIONEERS OF Washington County, Pa.

A FAMILY HISTORY BY F. S. READER. 1902:

PRESS OF F. S. READER & SON,

NEW BRIGHTON, PA.

PREFACE.

This family history centers in one of the pioneer families of Washington county,

Pa., Colonel William Wallace and Elizabeth Hopkins, his wife, who were born,

reared and married in Montgomery county, Md., and built their home in the

wilds of Western Pennsylvania. From this central point the history of the

ancestors and descendants of all the families connected with this couple in the

United States is given, so far as it has been possible to secure the facts; and it is

a typical history of the pioneers generally, who have built up the waste places

and made them possible for human habitation. The ancestors of Colonel Wallace

were among the pioneers and early settlers of the territory now included in

Montgomery county, Md.

The facts for the compilation of this history, were obtained from the Court

records of Prince George, Frederick, Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties,

Md., and Washington county, Pa.; Archives of Maryland, New Hampshire and

Pennsylvania; Library of Congress; Col. T. H. S. Boyd's history of Montgomery

county, Md.; Hon. Boyd Crumrine's and Alfred T. Creigh's histories, and Baer

& Co's Commemorative Biographical Record, of Washington county, Pa.;

History of the Early Churches Washington county, Pa.; Virginia Genealogies by

Rev. Horace E. Hayden; the Genealogical Collection of John H. Wallace, Esq.,

New York; and such family histories as could be secured.

No material has been used without verification by means of all sources of

information that could be secured, and every family line and historical statement

relating to the families mentioned, is believed to be accurate and reliable.

It is simply a family history, and it is hoped will interest and profit those directly

interested, and all who are curious to trace family growth.

I. THE WALLACES, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD.

CHAPTER. PAGE.

I. EARLY SETTLEMENTS--BROTHERS INDUSTRY

1

II. ELLERSLIE, SCOTLAND-AMERICA

7

III. JAMES WALLACE FAMILY

14

IV. THE HOPKINS FAMILY

22

V. WILLIAM WALLACE FAMILY

32

II. THE WALLACES, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA.

I. PIONEER LIFE 37

II. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE 46

III. REVOLUTIONARY SERVICE 56

IV. POLITICAL LIFE 60

V. BENTLEY FAMILY 64

VI. GREER-GREGG FAMILIES 72

III. REV. JOHN SMITH FAMILY.

I. REV. JOHN SMITH 79

II. HUGH SCOTT FAMILY 84

III. SMITH-WHITE FAMILY 88

IV. SMITH-WALLACE FAMILY 93

IV. THE READER FAMILY.

I. WILLIAM READER

101

II. READER-WALLACE

106

III. JAMES-CHARLES READER [Marked Chap. IV. In error]

111

IV. HENRY READER-GEORGE TRUMBO

117

V. FRANCIS READER-CATHERINE JAMES

121

VI. FRANCIS READER-ELEANOR B. SMITH

127

I.

THE WALLACES,

Montgomery County, Md.

COAT-OF-ARMS,

WALLACES OF ELDERSLIE,

SCOTLAND.

ARMS. AZ. A LION RAMPANT ARG. WITHIN A

BORDURE, COUNTER COMPONY ARG. AND AZ.

CREST. AN OSTRICH HOLDING IN HIS BEAK

A HORSESHOE PPR.

MOTTO. LIBERTAS OPTIMA RESUMI.

(FROM "VIRGINIA GENEALOGIES," BY PERMISSION

OF THE AUTHOR, REV. HORACE E.

HAYDEN).

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CHAPTER IV.

THE HOPKINS FAMILY.

The Eleanor Hopkins mentioned in the will of James Wallace as his daughter,

was the wife of John Hopkins, as is shown by the following deed of John

Hopkins and his wife, Eleanor, to Joseph Penn November 11, 1777:

"Whereas, James Wallace, late of Frederick county, Md., deceased, in his

lifetime, towit, March 28, 1749, obtained a patent for 200 acres of land called

Weavers Denn, then in Frederick county, now in Montgomery county, Md., and

by his last will and testament did give and bequeath to his daughter, Eleanor, wife

of said John Hopkins, etc."

The family records state that this John Hopkins came from Scotland, but there is

no record to show when he came to this country. On October 6, 1745, John

Hopkins, Sr., and his wife, Elizabeth, deeded 100 acres of land to Thomas

Ankeny, which was witnessed by James Hopkins and James Wallace, Jr., and

March 12, 1756. Thomas Boydestone deeded to John Hopkins a tract of land

called Boydestone Discovery on Piney creek and the Potomac river. August 8,

1759 he sold 175 acres of this tract to William Chambers, September 13, 1767

Thomas Stump sold John Hopkins 66 1/2

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acres in Stump's valley, and October 13, 1767 Walter Evan deeded to John

Hopkins an island of 32 acres in the Potomac river, which Mr. Hopkins deeded

to Samuel Tramwell September 6, 1773. October 25, 1779, John Hopkins, of

Yohogania county, Va., now Washington county, Pa., sold the 66 1/2 acres in

Stump's valley to Osborne Pile.

There seem to have been four distinct Hopkins families in the section covered by

the present Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties. The first on record is that

of William Hopkins, who owned Hopkins' plantation on Greenberry's Point

among the Men of Severn in 1657. He was granted 60 acres of land May 10,

1671, which was deeded to Thomas Tucker November 10, 1679. Another tract

was granted to him of 150 acres February 25, 1684, which he sold to Richard

Sorrell June 9, 1685. Other transactions are also on record.

In the same county there was a Gerard Hopkins, among the Men of Severn

1658. It is doubtless his will dated October 12, 1691, in which he names his

wife Thomsin, son Gerard, and daughters Anne, Thomsin and Mary. Gerard

Hopkins married Margaret Johns, and they had seven children. Joseph. Gerard,

Philip, Samuel, Richard, William, and Johns Hopkins, all born between 1706

and 1720. Of these children Richard married and had nine children, among

whom there was a Gerard. Gerard Hopkins, doubtless the third, owned a large

quantity of land in Frederick county, Md., the tracts being named Hope

Improved, Trouble Enough, None Left and Friendship, some of which appears

later in the name of Gerard Hopkins, Jr. Johns Hopkins, the founder of Johns

Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., was a descendant of this family.

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In the year 1742, Mathew Hopkins, of Kilmarnock, County of Ayr, Scotland,

came to Rock Creek, now in Montgomery county, Md., where he died January

1751. He bought from Osburn Spriggs August 26, 1741, a tract of 300 acres of

land called Sallop and later bought other lands. At his death he left a widow,

Mary, who afterwards married Henry Thralkeld, but they had no children. James

Hopkins, brother of Mathew, County of Ayr, was appointed by his mother to

act as her attorney, to receive all property that might be due her from Mathew's

estate. The power of attorney was dated April 29, 1752, and May 24, 1753,

James Hopkins deeded to Henry Thralkeld and wife the tract of land called

Sallop, and a part of the tract known as Resurvey, a part of which was

incorporated in Georgetown, D. C. There is no record that James Hopkins

remained in Maryland.

It is probable that these families were related, but the evidence is not available to

make it clear and beyond doubt.

John Hopkins and Eleanor Wallace, had the following children:

I. Herbert Hopkins, whose children Mary and Janet lived in Baltimore.

II. William Hopkins married Miss Briscoe.

III. Richard Hopkins moved to South Carolina.

IV. Alexander Hopkins married Rosa Laird, children: John, Thomas, Eliza,

Rosa, Polly and Nancy.

V. James Hopkins married Mary Goe, children:--John, William, Dorcas,

Elizabeth, Mary A., and Thomas.

VI. John Hopkins married Miss Wallace, children:--Charles, Mrs, Nancy Butler

and George.

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VII. Thomas Hopkins, a Revolutionary soldier, who enlisted in the Fifth Md.

Regiment February 1780, and was discharged November 1, 1780. The records

show that he was a resident of Washington county, Pa., in 1781, in the part that

afterward became Pike Run township. He married Catherine Hurd May 22,

1794, who came with her father from Londonderry, Ireland. They had the

following children:

1. Andrew born April 30, 1795, married Anna Townsend, children:--Mrs. Edith

E. Coyle, Mrs. Catherine Hiesy, Mrs. Sabina Wilcox, Townsend and Thomas.

2. Catherine Hopkins. Sketch Wright-Hopkins family.

3. Eleanor Hopkins unmarried.

4. Thomas H. Hopkins married Elizabeth Moffitt. Children, Moffitt, Mrs. Eliza

Lanning, Thomas, Mrs. Catherine Krepps.

5. John Hopkins married Jane Moffitt and had one daughter, Elizabeth, wife of

Dr. E. A. Wood, Allegheny county, Pa.

6. William Hopkins married Rachel Herron January 1, 1824, and had three

children:

i. Andrew, a prominent journalist in Pittsburg, Pa., and Wheeling, W. Va.

ii. Catherine, unmarried, died in 1901.

iii. James H. Hopkins attorney at law. While a resident of Pittsburg, Pa., he was

twice elected to Congress. He is now a resident of Washington, D. C.

William Hopkins was one of the most prominent Democrats of his time in

Pennsylvania. In 1834-6-7-8-9 and in 1861-2 he was elected a member of the

lower house of the

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Legislature of Pennsylvania, and in 1863 a member of the State Senate. He was

Speaker of the House in 1838-9 and 40, Secretary of the Land Office, elected

Canal Commissioner in 1852, and in 1872 was a member of the Constitutional

Convention of Pennsylvania.

7. White F. Hopkins married Hannah Wilson, children, Araminda, Thomas C.,

Joseph Wright.

8. Margaret Hopkins married Thomas West, children, Thomas, Catherine and

Jonathan, the latter serving in the Civil War, and died in Andersonville prison.

Upon the death of her husband, Mrs. West married William Moffitt and had

children, John, Eliza Jane, Joseph, Hopkins, who served in the Ringgold cavalry

in the Civil War, and Margaret.

9. Alexander.

VIII. Nancy Hopkins married Mr. Fleming. Children, John, White, Nellie,

Catherine, Elizabeth, Ann, Margaret.

IX. Elizabeth Hopkins married William Wallace, son of William Wallace one of

the founders of Brothers Industry.

X. Anna Hopkins married William Parker, Justice of the Peace of Somerset

township, Washington county, Pa., April 3, 1782, and sub-Lieutenant of the

county in 1781.

XI. Eleanor Hopkins married Andrew Boggs and had one son. Mr. Boggs was

Justice of the Peace in Fallowfield township, Washington county, Pa., February

17, 1797.

WRIGHT-HOPKINS FAMILY.

2. Catherine born April 25, 1796, married Joseph Wright November 6, 1814.

Mr. Wright was the grandson of Joshua Wright, who

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