Entered the Revolutionary army as Sergeant in the First Regt. Continental Troops and became a Lieutenant, but was accidentally shot and killed by his own men.
The New Jersey Journal of 6.6.1781 describes the accident thus: "The following tragical affair happened at Elizabethtown last Saturday night. Mr David Woodruff" (doubtless his brother-in-law) "and Mr Philip McCrea were going along the street
when they were halted by a sentinel, but not answering immediately, the sentinel fired and killed the latter on the spot."
It was said of her: "The memory of her amiable virtues and beautiful piety was affectionately cherished by the surviving neighbors through all their lifetime, and has descended as a sweet tradition unto the present day."
Would you please note that I have changed my e.mail address to: mccrea@huntleyandpalmers.fsnet.co.uk Please amend your records accordingly. Best wishes, Nigel McCrea
The location of his birth as "Lifford, near Strabane, county of Londonderry, in Ireland" is based on correspondence between American and Guernsey McCreas early in the 19th century. (Major F.B.McCrea's notes, in which he says all subsequent
pedigree as to the American branch in his 'The McCreas of Guernsey', Chapter XX of the History of the Clan Macrae, was derived by him from this correspondence).James attended Log College at Neshaminy, Pennsylvania to study theology under Rev William Tennent snr. the founder of that college, and graduated 5 Aug 1739. ( Note that Tennent's son, the Rev Charles, was pastor at the White Clay Creek
church.) He was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick 7 Nov 1739; ordained by the same 4 Aug 1741; became Pastor of Lamington Church in 1740.He was mentioned as a "Presbyterian clergyman of Scotch descent" and "devoted to literary pursuits" (Major F.B.McCrea's notes).
He preached by riding from village to village in the area around Lamington, a circuit of 200 miles. He preached at Allantown, Peapock, Lebanon, Musconating (Bethlehem).
He had a home and farm at Lamington, Bedminster township, Somerset County, New Jersey.
In 1766 he asked for release as his work had worn him down. He then retired to his large farm (near the road between Lamington and Pluckemin) until his death two years later, age 58. (See article by A.B.Honeyman in Somerset County Historical
Quarterly.)His will was dated 5 June 1766 and probate was granted to son James and wife Catharine on 14 Aug 1769. (Will reproduced in Somerset C.H.Q. Vol IV).
He left £10 to his eldest son John; "unto my dear and loving wife Catharine" £250 to be paid within 3 years of the sale of his estate, plus £250 p.a. whilst she remained a widow, subsequently to be divided amongst his children in proportion to
their legacies; £80 to his daughter Mary Hannah (sic) to be paid within 10 years and relief of interest on £60 owed by his son-in-law Rev John Hannah for 10 years; 5/- to his son William plus £100 in trust for him to be paid within 12 years;
£350 to his son James, of which £200 to be paid from the sale of the first 100 acres of his land; £320 to his son Samuel; £300 to his son Stephen; £170 to his daughter Jane, £70 of which to be paid when she reaches 21; £250 each to his four
sons Robert, Philip, Gilbert and Creighton when they reach 21; £150 to his daughter Cathrine (sic) to be paid when she reaches 21. His wife and sons James, Samuel and Stephen to have the use and benefit of all his houses and lands for 10 years
"for the support and maintenance of my family."His will was witnessed by John Mehelm, one of his congregation, an ardent patriot and army officeholder under Washington.
He is buried beside his first wife.
She was from Monmouth Co. at time of her marriage. Died aged 32.
The Bride of Fort Edward whose death at the hands of Indian mercenaries helped rally the New York colonists to the revolutionary cause.
Fort Edward was on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, within a few yards of the water and surrounded by a large plain which was cleared of wood and cultivated. On the road leading to the north and near the foot of a hill about one-third of a
mile from the fort, stood a house occupied by Mrs Sara McNeil (nee Fraser), a widow with whom Jane was staying. The side of the hill was covered with bushes and at the top stood a large pine tree. Near the root of this tree was a spring of
water. A picket was stationed in the woods on the hill a little below the pine tree. Early one morning this picket was attacked by a party of Indians, with six of the members being killed and scalped and four others wounded. One of these,
Samuel Standish, reported that whilst being held captive at the spring he saw another party of Indians ascending the hill with Mrs McNeil and Jane McCrea on foot. Jane had being courted by and was engaged to be married to a young loyalist
officer in the British camp, by the name of Lieut David Jones (or possibly James). He had sent the Indians to Mrs McNeil's house to escort Jane safely to the British camp. However when the two parties of Indians met, according to Standish, they
engaged in a furious argument and started fighting, possibly as to who should receive the reward for her safe delivery. In the midst of this argument, one of the Ottawa Wyandot chiefs named the Panther, apparently enraged, shot Jane in the
breast, killing her instantly. This chief then grasped her long hair and completely scalped her. Then, jumping up, he tossed it in the face of a young warrior, brandished it in the air and uttered a yell of savage exultation, at which stage the
quarrel ceased and as the fort had already been alarmed, the Indians hurried away, taking Mrs McNeil and Samuel Standish with them. (J.Sparks, 'The Life and Treason of Benedict Arnold', Harpers N.Y., 1844).There is another version of events however which is probably truer, although being somewhat less romantic and supportive of the colonists' cause. This is that Jones had not engaged the Indians at all to escort Jane to meet him, but rather that
he had asked several friendly ones to keep watch on the houses of his mother and of Jane's brother Colonel McCrea (where she lived) in return for which he had promised them a reward. On the morning of the fateful day, Jane and Mrs McNeil were
preparing to set out for Fort Miller for greater security, as rumours had been rife of Indians in the vicinity. Their action was the result of a message sent them early in the morning by General Arnold, who had at the same time despatched to
their assistance Lieutenant Palmer, with some 20 men, with orders to place their furniture and effects on board a boat and row the family down to Fort Miller. Having loaded most of the effects, Palmer told Mrs McNeil that he was going with his
men up the hill as far as the old blockhouse, for the purpose of reconnoitering, but would not be long absent. The party however not returning, Mrs McNeil and Jane decided to ride on horseback to Colonel McCrea's ferry, leaving the further
lading of the boat in charge of a black servant. When the horses were brought up to the door, it was found though that one of the saddles was missing and a boy was accordingly despatched to the house of a Mr Gillis to borrow one. While waiting
for the boy's return, Mrs McNeil heard a discharge of firearms (in which it subsequently transpired 12 of the soldiers had been killed, with Palmer himself dying on the spot) and, looking out of a window, saw one of the soldiers running along
the military road toward the fort, pursued by several Indians. The fugitive, seeing Mrs McNeil, waved his hat as a sign of danger and passed on. The Indians however, noting his action, redirected their attention to the house. Mrs McNeil
screamed at the others to get down into the cellar, which Jane and a black servant named Eve, with her baby Adam, did; but Mrs McNeil was caught on the stairs and dragged back by her hair. After a search, Jane was also found, but not the
servant or her baby, who hid in an ash-bin beneath a fire-place. By this time the survivors of Palmer's party had reached the fort, the alarm-drum beaten and a party of soldiers started in pursuit. Alarmed by the noise of the drum, the Indians
placed the two women upon the waiting horses and set off. Mrs McNeil however slipped off the horse on which there was no saddle and was carried by one of the Indians. At this point Mrs McNeil lost sight of her companion, but reported later that
she "was there ahead of me and appeared to be firmly seated on the saddle, and held the rein, while several Indians seemed to guard her - the Wyandot still ascending the hill and pulling along by the bridle-bit the affrighted horse upon which
poor Jenny rode." When the Indians were half-way up the hill they were nearly overtaken by the soldiers, who at this point began firing by platoons. However they were tending to shoot too high and as a result, Jane was hit by two or three
bullets with fatal effect. Whether or not Jane was then scalped by the Wyandot Panther, in revenge for the loss of the reward (equal to a barrel of rum) offered by Burgoyne for any white prisoner, remains a matter of conjecture. When Jane's
remains were disinterred some years later, they were examined by Dr William S. Norton, a respectable and highly intelligent practitioner of physic and surgery, who found no marks whatever of a cut or gash upon her skull. However some of her
hair was almost certainly taken, even if she was not completely scalped in traditional fashion, for Mrs McNeil, upon being ransomed by the Indians some days later said, "I never saw Jenny afterwards, nor anything that appertained to her person,
until my arrival in the British camp, when an aide-de-camp showed me a fresh scalp-lock which I could not mistake, because the hair was unusually fine, luxuriant, lustrous and dark as the wing of a raven. Till that evidence of her death was
exhibited, I hoped, almost against hope, that poor Jenny had been either rescued by our pursuers, or brought by our captors to some part of the British encampment." (Much of the above is taken from the Fourpeaks website).Jane was described as "a young woman of great accomplishments, great personal attractions, and remarkable sweetness of disposition. She was of medium stature, finely formed, and of a delicate blonde complexion. Her hair was of a golden brown
and silken lustre, and, when unbound, trailed upon the ground." (Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, New York, 1888).Whatever the truth of the detailed events of this story, it had a profound effect on the attitudes of the colonists, further motivating them against the British and Burgoyne in particular. Appleton goes on to say: "The blood of the unfortunate
maiden was not shed in vain, as has been justly said, her name was passed as a note of alarm along the banks of the Hudson, and was a rallying cry among the green mountains of Vermont. It thus contributed in no slight degree to Burgoyne's
defeat, which became a precursory and principal cause of American Independence."Thackeray in 'The Virginians' says "that employment of these Indians and of the German mercenaries brought their own retribution ..... the murder of one woman by half-a-dozen drunken Indians did more harm to the Royal cause than the loss of a
battle or the destruction of a regiment."A miniature of Jane was in the possession of F.B.McCrea at the end of the C19th. A seal made in commemoration of the tragedy was in the possession of her 3xGreat Niece Mrs F.Stanford (nee Carter) bearing the device of three bleeding hearts
surmounted by a tomahawk, and the motto 'It is too true'.She was originally buried in Fort Edward. The Fort's site is marked by a large boulder with a plate noting its existence from 1755 to 1780. After the fort ceased to exist she was reburied in State Street Burying Grounds. Subsequently her
remains were moved again to the Union Cemetery.
Would you please note that I have changed my e.mail address to: mccrea@huntleyandpalmers.fsnet.co.uk Please amend your records accordingly. Best wishes, Nigel McCrea
The location of his birth as "Lifford, near Strabane, county of Londonderry, in Ireland" is based on correspondence between American and Guernsey McCreas early in the 19th century. (Major F.B.McCrea's notes, in which he says all subsequent
pedigree as to the American branch in his 'The McCreas of Guernsey', Chapter XX of the History of the Clan Macrae, was derived by him from this correspondence).James attended Log College at Neshaminy, Pennsylvania to study theology under Rev William Tennent snr. the founder of that college, and graduated 5 Aug 1739. ( Note that Tennent's son, the Rev Charles, was pastor at the White Clay Creek
church.) He was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick 7 Nov 1739; ordained by the same 4 Aug 1741; became Pastor of Lamington Church in 1740.He was mentioned as a "Presbyterian clergyman of Scotch descent" and "devoted to literary pursuits" (Major F.B.McCrea's notes).
He preached by riding from village to village in the area around Lamington, a circuit of 200 miles. He preached at Allantown, Peapock, Lebanon, Musconating (Bethlehem).
He had a home and farm at Lamington, Bedminster township, Somerset County, New Jersey.
In 1766 he asked for release as his work had worn him down. He then retired to his large farm (near the road between Lamington and Pluckemin) until his death two years later, age 58. (See article by A.B.Honeyman in Somerset County Historical
Quarterly.)His will was dated 5 June 1766 and probate was granted to son James and wife Catharine on 14 Aug 1769. (Will reproduced in Somerset C.H.Q. Vol IV).
He left £10 to his eldest son John; "unto my dear and loving wife Catharine" £250 to be paid within 3 years of the sale of his estate, plus £250 p.a. whilst she remained a widow, subsequently to be divided amongst his children in proportion to
their legacies; £80 to his daughter Mary Hannah (sic) to be paid within 10 years and relief of interest on £60 owed by his son-in-law Rev John Hannah for 10 years; 5/- to his son William plus £100 in trust for him to be paid within 12 years;
£350 to his son James, of which £200 to be paid from the sale of the first 100 acres of his land; £320 to his son Samuel; £300 to his son Stephen; £170 to his daughter Jane, £70 of which to be paid when she reaches 21; £250 each to his four
sons Robert, Philip, Gilbert and Creighton when they reach 21; £150 to his daughter Cathrine (sic) to be paid when she reaches 21. His wife and sons James, Samuel and Stephen to have the use and benefit of all his houses and lands for 10 years
"for the support and maintenance of my family."His will was witnessed by John Mehelm, one of his congregation, an ardent patriot and army officeholder under Washington.
He is buried beside his first wife.
She was a young lady in James McCrea's Lamington congregation.
After her father's death in 1783 she inherited considerable land in Bedminster and interests in the Miami District of Ohio.
Her own will of 10 June 1813, proved 25 July 1814, left her Bedminster farm of 325 acres to her son Creighton plus £900; he was to give brother Robert "now in Guernsey, in Great Britain" £900 in six months and grandson Philip £600 in nine
months. She also left grandsons James and John McCrea, sons of Gilbert, 640 acres in Ohio, provided Gilbert have the undisturbed possession of the same during his life and that the said grandsons pay to their sisters £150 upon his death. Also
her daughter Catherine (McCrea) McDonald to be allowed to continue living there during her life, with her sons James and William McDonald to give their sisters £150 after her death.She was buried next to her son Philip.
He served on the Loyalist side in the War of Independence and was an Ensign in the 1st American Regt (Queen's Rangers) in 1782. In 1783 he and his brother Robert went to St John, New Brunswick in Canada where he received a grant for land nearby
in Kings County on the Great Kennebecasis River. Suzanne Lisson (nee Carter) believes that he and Robert lived there until Sept 1785 when Creighton sold the property of 200 acres "with all houses, outhouses, edifices, buildings, yards, gardens,
fields, woods, underwoods, water, watercourses, privileges, advantages, emoluments, hereditaments and appurtenances to the same" for £250(NB) to one Thomas Morris or Merritt. In 1785 he was on the Half-Pay List, before transferring to the 75th
Foot in Dec 1787.As a Captain in the 75th Highlanders he was at the siege and capture of Seringapatam in May 1799 in which the Tippoo Sahib, the Sultan of Mysore who had at an earlier date given him a jewelled watch, was killed.
At one time he lived in Guernsey where he made a will, but he returned to America and, as he never married, made a home for Sarah, widow of his half-brother William, and her daughter Maria. In 1796 he purchased a house in South Bound Brook, New
Jersey.He would appear to have been his mother's favourite son. In 1804 she gave a 5.75 acre island along the Lamington. One month later she gave him for $1 and "natural love" a 321 acre farm at Lamington as well as 640 acres in the Miami Tract, Ohio.
In 1810 he bought two tracts of land totalling 135 acres and conveyed these to his niece Maria van Duyn in 1814 for "love and affection" and $898. He also owned 101 acres in Bedminster which he sold in 1814.
His will of 8 Dec 1813, probated 23 Dec 1818 left his mother $125 p.a. if she was widowed, his niece Jane daughter of Robert McCrea $250 and his niece Maria "who now lives with me" the remainder "whether in America, Europe or elsewhere." If
Maria was to die without issue, the remainder was to go to the family of his brother Robert.
His ancestors came from the Kintail area in the Western Highlands of Scotland and of them was written the following poem by Kenneth A. MacRae, 'The Scattered Children of Kintail':
"There are many, many weary hearts,
And feet are bleeding sore,
But still our steps are further turned
From Duich's lonely shore.
On a thousand plains our clansmen roam,
In exile's bitter pain,
And eyes are dim with longing tears
To see Kintail again.
Oh! often in our dreams we see
The day fade in the west,
And watch the glory lights of eve
Flash o'er Loch Duich's breast.
In a distant land we hear once more
The heron's wistful cry,
And live again a fleeting space
In days for ever by.
But a silence dwells upon our land,
And broods in every glen,
And never shall we gather round
The ceilidh fires again.
The red deer sleeps in sheltered nooks,
Where homes were wont to be,
And those who loved and laboured there
Are exiled o'er the sea.
Though our restless feet have wandered far,
And severed wide we be,
The children of a common stock,
A clan till death are we.
Yet the hills we loved shall ne'er resound
Our slogan's thrilling peal,
Nor catch the tumult of our march
Come throbbing down Glen Shiel."
It seems likely that William's grandfather might have been a Scottish Presbyterian who, disagreeing with the prevailing Episcopalian allegiances of the leading Macrae families of Kintail, emigrated to Ulster in the early to middle part of the
C17th. If so, he might have experienced the 1641 catholic uprising and massacre of protestant settlers and the Cromwellian retribution of 1649. There is a tradition in the family that an ancestor was present at the Siege of Londonderry in 1689
and even that the Rev. George Walker, one of the main organisers of it, was a relation. The name of Ann McCrea appears in a list of signatures to the Derry Corporation's 1690 Commission "empowering them to appoint agents to repair to London and
press the Government for compensation for the heavy expenses and losses incurred during the Siege." (W.R.Young, 'The Fighters of Derry').The Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland have confirmed that the McCrea name appears to be common in the Londonderry area around the end of the C17th.
However the Protestant Ascendancy which followed the victory of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, led to the suppression of Presbyterians as well as Catholics. It has been written: "Of all those who survived the great siege
none were more justifiably exasperated than the Presbyterians. Not only had they provided the backbone of the city's defence but for three generations they had been the mainstay of the Plantation itself and they were now to receive precious
little thanks from England for their service in the garrison which had held Ireland for the Crown. Their fathers had suffered with the rest of Ireland when, in 1665, English landowners killed the flourishing Irish cattle trade by procuring laws
from Parliament which prohibited the importation into England of Irish cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, bacon, even butter and cheese. They had suffered with the rest of Ireland when the Navigation Act of 1660, under which Irish vessels enjoyed
the same privileges as English ships, was amended three years later so as to deprive Ireland of any share in the trade with the colonies." He continues: "With the Irish cattle trade killed by the jealousy of the English the Ulster
Presbyterians, like other Irish landowners, turned to sheep and not only produced wool of excellent quality but began to manufacture it on a considerable scale." However "at the end of the century, the siege over and Ireland safely under
England's heel, the English woollen magnates acted swiftly and ruthlessly to eliminate the rising competition from Ireland.....The Irish woollen trade was finally killed by the British Parliament in 1699 with a law of such crushing severity
that the export of Irish manufactured wool was prohibited to any country in the world."England's policy towards the Ulster Non-Conformists was not only selfish but short-sighted.....Not content with killing Ulster's trade and industry, the English, under pressure from the Episcopalians, went on to discriminate against the
Presbyterian religion in Ulster. The Toleration Act which was passed by the English Parliament was not extended to Ireland, and in the early eighteenth century the Ulster Non-Conformists were only able to celebrate their own form of worship by
connivance. In 1704 (the Sacramental) Test Act was passed which required every person holding civil or military office under the Crown to qualify by taking the Sacrament in his parish church. It was a test which no honest Presbyterian could
take with a safe conscience....."Many Ulster Presbyterians became so exasperated by England's intolerance of their religion and the savage suppression of their agricultural and industrial success that they decided to choose a freer life across the Atlantic." (Patrick Macrory,
'The Siege of Derry', pp348-50, Hodder & Stoughton, 1980.)Hence about 1710-15, William and his family went to America where he became an elder in White Clay Creek church near Newark, Delaware. (Major F.B.McCrea, based on Appleton's Cyclopoedia of American Biography, N.Y. 1888).
He was a businessman who, with others, petitioned King George II (1727-60) to incorporate their village and name it Newark.
His family or descendants became known as the "Opulent McCreas."
"Family tradition says that the McCreas of this Pedigree are maternally descended from a Miss Creighton," and according to Major F.B.McCrea, "the internal evidence of this Tree confirms it. One J. Creighton was in friendly correspondence with
Major Robert McCrea's second wife up to about the middle of this (the 19th) century respecting McCrea property in America. It is probable, therefore, that William McCrea's wife was a Creighton." Other suggestions however are that Margaret
Creighton was the first wife of the brother of Rev James McCrea, that is William.
Known as Colonel John in later life.
Graduated Princeton 1762 and studied law.
He moved to Albany in 1764 and began to practice law but gave it up in two years and decided to farm. In 1773 they moved to a farm in Northumberland in Saratoga county on the west side of the Hudson River, about 3 miles north of Fort Miller
Falls and a few miles below Fort Edward.His sister Jane lived with them there for at least 5 years after their father's death.
When the war started he acted as chairman for the Committee of Safety in Saratoga county and was given a commission as Colonel of the 13th (Saratoga) Regt of Militia at a salary of £1 per day.
In 1780 following the Battle of Saratoga the Loyalists burned his Northumberland home and he moved to a farm at Salem, a Scots-Irish settlement in Charlotte co., later Washington co., N.Y.
He was one of the area's leading attorneys, serving as the county clerk from 1780-97.
In 1784 he was a member of the first Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York at Albany.
Around 1800 they moved to a farm in Lisbon, Lawrence co., New York, where he subsequently died.
She was from Albany, N.Y.
She died while her husband was at the front in the war.
Known as Colonel John in later life.
Graduated Princeton 1762 and studied law.
He moved to Albany in 1764 and began to practice law but gave it up in two years and decided to farm. In 1773 they moved to a farm in Northumberland in Saratoga county on the west side of the Hudson River, about 3 miles north of Fort Miller
Falls and a few miles below Fort Edward.His sister Jane lived with them there for at least 5 years after their father's death.
When the war started he acted as chairman for the Committee of Safety in Saratoga county and was given a commission as Colonel of the 13th (Saratoga) Regt of Militia at a salary of £1 per day.
In 1780 following the Battle of Saratoga the Loyalists burned his Northumberland home and he moved to a farm at Salem, a Scots-Irish settlement in Charlotte co., later Washington co., N.Y.
He was one of the area's leading attorneys, serving as the county clerk from 1780-97.
In 1784 he was a member of the first Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York at Albany.
Around 1800 they moved to a farm in Lisbon, Lawrence co., New York, where he subsequently died.
She was the daughter of John McNaughton.
They had 4 children.
After Colonel John's death she married Canuth Brisbin, but when he died in 1835, she petitioned the U.S. House of Representatives for McCrea's revolutionary war pension. Claiming her right as the wife of a veteran officer, and a destitute woman
of 74, she received in 1839 a small annual sum from the federal government.
Taught in the vicinity of Pluckemin, graduated at Princeton (1755) and became Pastor of the Bethlehem, Kingwood and Alexandria Presbyterian Churches in Hunterdon Co. during the years 1761-1801.
His wife was one of his pupils at the log school house near Rev James McCrea's residence at Burnt Mills, Somerset co. Of their 13 children, 6 died in infancy.
Her portrait and that of her husband hang in the Founders' Room in Lamington Church.
He settled on a large estate at Balston, Central Saratoga, New York Province about 1816, but then appears to have moved to Ohio. However Major F.B.McCrea says he "still wrote to Guernsey from Balston, 4 March 1830 (vide my grand-mother's letter
(Sophia, nee Le Mesurier) of 25 Sept 1850.)"
She was her husband's cousin.
Was living at Balston in 1831.
Was living at Balston in 1831.
Was living at Balston in 1831 and was the possessor of a watch and seal which had belonged to his great-great-grandfather, William McCrea.
married to James Everett Watson. His parents are Charlie Allen Watson and Lorraine Holtkamp.They are divorced. Mother's married name now is
Browne.