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Saturday, November 3, 2018

MISS HILDEGARDE W HITCHCOCK

MISS HILDEGARDE W HITCHCOCK 43442 Born in Erie Pennsylvania Descendant of Aaron Boylan Daughter of Daniel Webster Hitchcock and Adaline Hayden Boylan his wife Granddaughter of Andrew Boylan b 1793 and Eleanor McGona gee his wife Gr granddaughter of Aaron Boylan and Sarah McDade b 1755 his wife m 1772 Aaron Boylan 1749 1824 served as a private under Capt Daniel Piatt and took part in the battles of Princeton Brandy wine and Monmouth In 1837 his widow received a pension in Venango Co Penna for nine months actual service of her husband in the New Jersey line

Boylan, Aaron II

Boylan, Aaron II


Submitted by John Boylan on Thu, 10/13/2011 - 20:45
Born 17 May 1749 in Bernardsville, Somerset County, New Jersey; died 20 Sep 1824 in Sandy Creek Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Aaron and Catherine Parkinson Shilton Boylan of Somerset County, New Jersey. He married Sarah McDade 06 Oct 1772 in Basking Ridge, Somerset County, New Jersey. Sarah was born 06 Dec 1755 in Somerset County, New Jersey; died in 1861 in Sandy Lake, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Patrick McDade of Bernards, Somerset County, New Jersey.
He was known as a master weaver. He moved to Fayette County, PA during the early part of the Revolutionary War where he left his family while he served his country. He served under Captain Carters Company 1st Battalion, Somerset and also in the Continental Army. He also served under Captain Daniel Piatt, New Jersey. He was in the battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777. Their family home was burned by the British Army when Elizabethtown was captured and burned. His length of service was nine months as shown in the records of officers and men of NJ in the Revolutionary War.
Following the war, he moved to Mercer County, PA in 1800. He came with his family to a place called Sandy Creek Township, near Deer Creek, in the year 1800. In that wilderness country, he planted some fruit trees and carried on his trade as a weaver. Was elected or appointed sheriff but it was never a source of profit for him; the pay was poor and took him away from the farm.
Described as a very handsome man, tall and straight, had very curly black hair and an athlete and did not know what fear meant, was of a social kindly disposition, always had a lot of friends where ever he lived, always drank as most people did in those days, but was never intoxicated. He had such a saintly disposition that he won friends without an effort and his worst fault was his over friendliness for women.
Aaron and Sarah had eleven children. Upon his death, the family farm was divided between two sons. Andrew got the improved part with 100 acres (Sarah and Betsy lived with Andrew for some years); Aaron got 200 acres of wild land worth from three to five dollars per acre; 100 acres lapsed back to the U.S.
A grandson, William T. Boylan, later relates the following narrative about his grandfather’s early pioneering in Mercer County:
“In 1799, my grandfather, Aaron Boylan, and David Caldwell, of Redstone, Fayette County, fitted up a canoe with a supply of provisions and started up the Allegheny, poling their canoe to the mouth of French Creek and then up that stream to the mouth of Conneaut Creek. There they found James Herrington, a surveyor, mention above. He, being somewhat acquainted with the country, put them on a line running west from his place, directing them to follow that until they came to a certain numbered corner (the lots all being numbered). Then turn south and continue on until they came to another certain numbered corner, and there they would find on both sides of the line vacant claims. That corner was on what now is the line between Mercer and Crawford Counties. After following the line a hundred rods or more, Boylan espied a spring of water on the east side of the line. He went to it and sticking his staff into the ground, said to his friend, "Dave, I'll take this lot." They then went over the tract west of the line and came to another spring, and Caldwell took that tract. They then went to work and put up cabins on each of their lots of such logs or poles as they could handle, and ‘bushwacked’ around until their provisions were exhausted, and went back to get a new supply.
“When Boylan came back to his cabin he found a man named Davis in possession of it, who claimed a squatter sovereign's right. Boylan asked what he meant, and Davis said he had peaceable possession of the cabin and land, and was going to hold them. Boylan asked him if he might come in and warm, it being late in the fall. Davis said he might if he would have no trouble. He went in, and there being a good supply of dry wood, Boylan began to put it on the fire, until it blazed up to the roof. He said to Davis, "Your cabin will burn down." Davis took a pail and went to the spring for water. When he came back Boylan had the fire under control and the door barred, and told Davis he had built the cabin, and now had peaceable possession of it, and he might go about his business. He went, and troubled him no more.”3
Aaron and Sarah were buried in Fairfield Cemetery, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.
Sources:
1. Boylan, B. L., and James D. Boylan (Co-Historians). The Boylan
Family: The Descendants of Aaron Boylan and Catherine Parkinson Shilton. Ann Arbor, MI: Unpublished, 1942.
2. Boylan, John A. (Project Director). History of the Boylan Family 1710-1976. Cambridge Springs, PA: Caldwell Printing, 1976.
3. Boylan, William T. “Extracts From Pioneer Days In Deer Creek, Pennsylvania.” Published in Cochranton Times, 1817-1898.
4. Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey : a book of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1910, p. 1462.
5. Stryker, Will S., Ed. Official Register of Officers and Men of NJ in the Revolutionary War. Trenton, NJ. 1872. (878p.): pp. 153, 515.

Friday, October 5, 2018

Elizabeth Stokes “Betsy” McCulloch Boylan



https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28032123/elizabeth-stokes-boylan


Elizabeth Stokes “Betsy” McCulloch Boylan

BIRTH 1780
DEATH 25 Jan 1825 (aged 44–45)
BURIAL
City Cemetery
Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, USA
PLOT Section: E-1. Lot: 43
MEMORIAL ID 28032123 · View Source

Elizabeth Stokes McCulloch was born 1780 in Halifax County, the 6th of 7 known surviving children (3 boys/4 girls) born to Sen. Benjamin McCulloch and his wife, Sarah Montford Stokes.

Her father, Benjamin McCulloch, belonged to the Committee of Safety of Halifax in 1774; was elected to the Assembly in 1775, and to the Congress in 1776. After the close of the Revolutionary War he was repeatedly elected to one or the other branch of the Legislature.

She is descended from Scotch-Irish stock on her father's side, and was the paternal grandchild of Col. Alexander McCulloch (1715-1798) who immigrated to Halifax County from Dublin, Ireland with his father, Henry McCulloch, in the early 1700's and married Sarah Hill of Halifax Co. Her gr-grandfather, Henry McCulloch, was the son of James McCulloch of Grogan, Ireland, and his 1st wife. On her mother's side, she was the maternal grandchild of David Stokes & Sarah Montford of Lunenburg Co, VA; and niece to U.S. Judge, John Stokes and NC Governor Montfort Stokes.

Her gr-grandfather, Henry McCulloch, had a half-brother also named Henry McCulloch, who rose to prominence in NC prior to the Revolutionary War. They were both sons of James McCulloch of Grogan, Ireland. This James McCulloch married twice and had sons by both wives which he named Henry. The first Henry, from his 1st marriage, was Elizabeth's gr-grandfather. The 2nd Henry, sometimes referred to as "Henry, the Land Grabber", was a London Merchant and was the first of the McCullochs to immigrate to the New World, settling in NC. Described as a "typical adventurer" he speculated in land on an enormous scale acquiring millions of acres of land in Eastern North Carolina through royal grants. This Henry lost much of his land following the Revolutionary War as NC revoked his royal grants questioning his loyalty to the Patriot cause.

Her grandfather, Col. Alexander McCulloch, established "Elk Marsh" plantation in Halifax County. He served as an officer in the Orange County militia, and Clerk of Court in Bute Co. in 1772. Alexander represented Halifax in the lower house of Assembly in 1760, and served on the Royal Council between 1762 and 1775. Apparently of divided sentiments during the Revolutionary War, he sat out the conflict at Elk Marsh. He prospered in the New World, owning at his death 70 slaves and plantations in Halifax and Warren Counties. 

Betsy was 21 years old when she married 24-year old William Montford Boylan of New Jersey. The couple were married in Pluckemin, Somerset County, NJ on November 4, 1801, while Betsy was visiting relatives in his home town. The couple soon returned to North Carolina, settling in the capital city, Raleigh, where William became a wealthy planter and editor of the weekly newspaper, the Raleigh Minerva. 

Over the next 21 years, Betsy would deliver 11 children into the household: John Hodge Boylan (1803-1870), Alexander McCulloch Boylan (1804-1834), William Boylan II (1806-1828), Benjamin McCulloch Boylan (1808-1809), Eleanor Eliza Boylan (1810-1849), Samuel McCulloch Boylan (1812-1845), Mary Adelaide Boylan (1814-1824), James Boylan (1816-1842), Catherine Boylan (1818-1895), Sarah Boylan (1820-1821), and William Montford Boylan Jr. (1822-1899).

In 1818, William Boylan Sr. purchased "Wakefield" the plantation once belonging to Raleigh founder, Joel Lane (built ca. 1795). The Lane "Wakefield" house, along with "Montfort Hall", which Boylan Jr. build in 1858, remained in the Boylan family until 1909. 

In the late 1760s, planter Joel Lane (c. 1740-1795) built a story-and-a-half house at Bloomsbury, a crossroads hamlet of colonial Johnston County. He named the property Wakefield in honor of Margaret Wake, wife of colonial Governor William Tryon. Lane and his house subsequently played a central role in North Carolina's transition from colony to state and in the establishment of Raleigh as the state capital. Wakefield stood on a small hill, near the main trail through the area. Lane's surrounding land holdings numbered in the thousands of acres, a status that naturally drew him into politics. After Lane's death in 1795, Wakefield served several owners before being purchased by planter William Boylan in 1818. 

Elizabeth "Betsy" Boylan died an untimely death in 1825, passing at age 45 from lung disease. Her husband of 24 years would later marry Jane Elliot in 1830, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner in Cumberland Co, NC, by whom one known daughter was born.

As for her children, many of them died young and are buried here. Only her youngest son, William Montford Boyland Jr, married and had children. Her eldest son, John Hodge Boylan, is reportedly the father of Adelaid Boylan (1832-1909), who is buried here at City Cemetery, but no information has been found by this researcher indicating he ever married.


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John Hodge Boylan findagrave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28032168/john-hodge-boylan

John Hodge Boylan
BIRTH 5 Jan 1803
DEATH 1 Dec 1870 (aged 67)
BURIAL
City Cemetery
Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, USA
PLOT Section: E-1. Lot: 43
MEMORIAL ID 28032168 · View Source

John Hodge Boylan was born 1803 in Raleigh, Wake County, NC the eldest of 11 known surviving children (7 boys/4 girls) born to wealthy planter and publisher, William Montford Boylan Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth "Betsy" Stokes McCulloch. His father came to NC ca. 1793 where he entered into the newspaper publishing business with his uncle, Abraham Hodge, who was General Washington's press agent during the American Revolution,and was elected State Printer by the General Assembly in 1785.

He was the paternal grandson of Capt. John Boylan & Elizabeth Hodge of Pluckemin, Somerset Co, NJ; and gr-grandson of this family's patriarch, Aaron Boylan (c. 1710-1751) who immigrated to Somerset County, NJ from Colerain, Ireland ca. 1732 with his wife, Catherine Parkinson. The Boylan family in New Jersey is quite prominent. On his mother's side, he was the maternal grandson of Sen. Benjamin Samuel "Sandy" McCulloch and Sarah Montford Stokes of Halifax County, NC.

William inherited plantations in both North Carolina and Mississippi from his father, residing most of his life on his plantation in Cape Fear Township in Chatham, County. He also spent time at his plantation in Yazoo Co, MS.

By all accounts found by this researcher, John Hodge Boylan never married. However, there is an Adelaide Boylan (1832-1909) buried here in City Cemetery whose gravestone reads "Daughter of John H. Boylan". This Adelaide was found on census data in 1870 residing in John Hodge Boylan's home in Chatham County, but no relationship was shown. If she was the daughter of John Hodge Boylan, her mother's name remains unknown.

John Hodge Boylan died in 1870 at age 67. He was buried near other Boylan family members in City Cemetery.

From a slave narrative of one Elias Thomas, who was born on John Boylan's Chatham County plantation, comes this rememberance of Boylan:

"John Boylan never married. He was a mighty hard man to get along with and Marster Baxter Thomas (who bought the Boylan plantation) was about the only one who could do anything with him when he had one of his mad spells. They were no blood relation but Marster got possession of his property when he died. It was fixed that way."

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