Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/693

 COl-UMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES until his death. H« married Hannah M cW il­ liams, daughter o f John and M aria (C ruscr) McWiliiams, natives o f Rucks county, Pa., and of the four children bom to them but tWo arc alive: M rs. Sechler and Anna Jan e, the latter the w ife o f Levan Bennett, o f Danville. The McW illiams fam ily is well represented in Liberty township. R o ^ r t McW il iams, his three .sons, Hugh. John and Robert, and his daughter, Jane, w ife o f Robert Curry, settled in the township in 17 7 1. near Mooresburg. They came from Ireland and were of the Scotch-Irish race which has contributed so n u n y good citizens to this country. From this fam ily almost all of the name o f McW illiams in this part of the State are descended. John M cW illiams and his w ife, maternal grand­ parents o f M rs. Scchler, were settled in Lim e­ stone township for a time, in 1826 buying a place near Lim e Ridge, in W est Chillisquaque township. Northumtorland county, where he died in 1848. T h w had nine children. T he w ife o f Afrs. Sechlcr’s great-grand­ father. John Davis, w as a Martin and daugh­ ter o f one of the first settlers o f what is now Montour county, in the ncighborhoo<l o f Mon­ tour Ridge. H e r parents, M r. and Mrs. John M.artin, were murdered by a band o f eight Indians (including Roland Montour and his sons) at their home on the CliilUsquaquc creek, two miles east o f P o lt^ ro v e in Liberty township, Montour county, Oct. 1 4 ,1 7 8 1. She W killed outright, and he w as scalped and .VS left fo r d ead; he had almost reachctl the spring when the sons returned home, but had lost too much blood to recover. T licir daughter. Susan Martin. .in<l granddaughter. .Ann M cNeal, then eight y e ars old, were taken prisoners. The older girl carried the younger. A fte r the murder of the old people the Indians took thcir captives and started for the camp o f Montour’s rckitivcs, which w as about five mites wc.st of the Martin farm, at the place where the Loyalsock crcck empties into the river, four miles cast o f Williamsport. The Indians had secmeil friend ly: old Roland Montour was at the M artins’ to dinner a few days to fo rc the murder. w h en they camped the first night one of the Indians made Susan, who was barefooted, a iair o f moccasins, and cut the lower part of icr dress off and made a sling, which she placed around her neck, for little Ann to sit in when slie carried her. John Martin had two sons. R oger and H ays. The boys were aw ay from home at the time of the munlcr, one having gone to mill at the mouth of the crcck, and the other was

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helping rai.sc a log to m 011 the farm now oc­ cupied by William Lazarus. When they came home and made the discovery they declared vengeance. T he next morning H ays started a fte r the Indians and Roger buried the dead. H ays was gone about three weeks, and when he came back all he would say was, “ The Montours won't trouble anybody else.’’ That was the last seen o f any of the Montour tribe c.xccpt Madame Montour, who was with the Mahonings’ camp, where Danville now stands. T he older girl w as exchanged about a year after her capture and came back, and married John Davis, a resident o f what is now Lim e­ stone township, Montour county. Little Ann w as left in the care o f a Canadian fam ily for about eight years, when with a lot o f others she w as brought to Fort Duquesnc, near Pitts­ burg, from where word w as sent out that all persons having friends with the Indians should come and identify them. R oger M artin went after Ann and bought her freedom, though he w as at first unable to identify her on account of the great change. On questioning her, she said ail she could remember about home was she had uncles R c^er and H ays. She became a spinner and weaver by trade and made her home wherever she chose to stay. She had one child, a daughter Sarah, w'ho m arried a I^ y a rd and w as the mother o f Samuel, 'ritomas and Ann Layard, o f Layardsvillc. .After the death o f Layard she married Ben­ iamin McW illiams, o f Limestone township, Sfontour county, and they made their home in Liberty township, Montour county. H er mother Ann M cNeal called it her home, though she was seldom there. Ann M cN cal died about the year 1867 or 1868, al the home o f her daughter, M rs. McW illiams, aged about cighty-ninc years. K E V. R IC H A R D H E N R Y G I L B E R T , D. D., was torn in Dowlais, South W ales, A pril 8, 1855. and is the son o f John (D av y) Gilbert and E lfred a (T ru scott) Gilbert. His early cilucation was secured in the finely en­ dowed public school o f D ow lais; and. later he attended the schools o f Brcagc and Germoe, Cornwall. England. Coming to .America with his mother and sisters I his father having come a couple o f years earlier) in Ju ly, t o w . he attended the public school at Etor'ale, Pa. T his was supplcmcntc<l by wide reading, and a fte r entering the ministry of the Central Pennsylvania Conference. Methodist EpLscoral Church, March, 1880. he took a course in a ‘nteological Corrcsjiondcncc School. H e re­