—————————————————————————————————————————————
Birth: About 1742 Probably Northern Ireland
Death: 8 Dec 1803 Washington Co., PA
Matthew
HILLIS (abt 1742 - 8 Dec 1803) & Elizabeth CARR (abt 1742 - 6 Nov 1820)
Jane HILLIS (9 Dec
1767 - 13 Dec 1849) & Robert GLASS ( - 1798)
Thomas GLASS*
(abt 1793 - ) & Mary KIRK
Dorcas
GLASS (25 Jan 1814 - 20 Nov 1892) & Aaron Kimble ATEN (18 Feb 1812 - 9 Sep
1901)
Ellen
Arminda ATEN (17 Dec 1849 - 6 Mar 1919) & Moody ROBINSON (11 Dec 1850 - 22
Mar 1938)
Adelia Gertrude ROBINSON (12 Sep 1878 - 16 Jan 1973) & Newton COFFEY
(1875 - 1969)
Leo Newton COFFEY (22
Jul 1901 - 26 Oct 1998) & Elsie Maureen WALKER (1903 - 1983)
Fred Coffey
Misc. Notes
NOTE: Most
of my information on my G5 Grandfather Matthew HILLIS comes from Terese
Hiles-Olson, who has put tremendous effort into researching her Hillis
ancestry. She descends from Matthew's probable brother John, who is her G6
Grandfather. Any info below taken from her notes is prefaced with the label
"(Terese)".
Note that in
the early years Matthew is found in the area where Pennsylvania, Delaware, and
Maryland come together. And in the earliest years Delaware was not a colony,
but rather a disputed territory between PA and MD. Thus the mix of locations
below:
BIRTH: ABOUT 1742: (Terese):
Some have suggested he was born in Northern Ireland. Some say in County Sligo. Others
believe he is the son of a local Hilles/Hillis/ or Hillas family. There are
many such families to choose from.
1763 TAX ROLL: (Terese):
Found on the Nottingham Twp., PA, tax roll. Note the boundary lines for
Nottingham changed drastically after this date, and he may or may not have
lived within the current Maryland border.
1766 TAX ROLL: (Terese):
Found on the North Milford Hundred, Cecil Co., Maryland tax rolls. Listed as
Matthew & John Hilles. (Memo from Fred: Saw abstract of this tax
roll. It listed number of slaves (Matthew had none), and for some curious
reason also listed the number of dogs (Matthew didn't have a dog).)
1767 MARRIAGE: Matthew
Hilles/Hillis marries Elizabeth Carr of White Clay Creek Hundred, New Castle,
DE.
1772 WASHINGTON CO., PA: Matthew has
land holdings for Dunlap Creek, Washington Co.
1773 WITNESS TO WILL: Matthew was
a witness for the will of Arthur Carr, the brother of his wife Elizabeth, at
White Clay Creek Hundred, New Castle, DE. This will also lists Elizabeth's
mother Jane, and her brothers William and David.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR:
(Tim
Peterman): From DAR Index: Matthew Hillis served as private in Capt. Thomas
Rankins' company, Col. William Crawford's regiment, in the Sandusky expedition;
also a Ranger on the frontier of Washington County, PA.
(Terese):
Service with the Washington County Rangers of western PA. Listed under the
command of Thomas Rankin. (Note: Thomas Rankin's line participated in the
notorious 1782 "Gnudenhutten Massacre" (the killing of 96 Christian
American Indians at a Moravian missionary village). Although I found ¾ of the
line on a partial list, I did not find Matthew. The catalyst, however, was an
Indian raid on a Raccoon Creek neighbor of Matthew's, the Robert Wallace
family.)
(Terese):
Matthew may have participated in the "Crawford Expedition". (aka
"Sandusky Expedition") This was an American defeat at the hands of
the British and Indians. The retreat turned into a rout, with several of the
Patriots captured and executed by the Indians as revenge for the Gnudenhutten Massacre.)
Almost all of the 100 to 200 participants of the Gnudenhutten Massacre had
joined the line led by William Crawford. I have not found any documentation for
Matthew on reimbursement for lost horse or supplied from that expedition of
which many filed for. Therefore I am assuming he was of the 200 plus who
escaped by horseback.
1784 LAND HOLDINGS: (Terese):
He had land holdings for Chartiers Creek (about fifteen miles southwest of Fort
Pitt), Washington Co., PA
1786 LAND HOLDINGS: (Terese):
Had land holdings for Raccoon Creek, Washington Co., PA.
(by Fred
Coffey): The evidence shows that our Great (several times) Grandfather Matthew
Hillis had an interesting confrontation with General George Washington, father
of our country. The source of this information comes from Boyd Crumrine's
"History of Washington County, Pennsylvania with Biographical Sketches of
Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men" (Philadelphia: L. H. Leverts &
Co., 1882). You can read the full text at:
http://www.chartiers.com/crumrine/twp-mtpleasant.html
If it
remains available, you can also find fascinating discussion in an article
published in The Washington Post on June 6, 2004, titled “George Washington’s
Western Adventure” by Joel Achenbach. This article can be found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10634-2004Jun2.html
(Both of
these sites were still active in May 2016.)
In 1784,
after the revolution and before he was elected president, George Washington
took a trip to western Pennsylvania, to what is now Washington County, to
inspect a mill and some land he owned. This trip resulted in a confrontation
between General Washington and some Scotch-Irish settlers (George considered
them "squatters") that were on the land that George claimed. These
settlers defied General Washington, and refused to move, and George threatened
to take them to court. (The settlers remained defiant, but George ultimately
won the court case.)
We have
excerpts from Washington's 1884 journal, which he kept, describing his
inspection of the land and the status of the squatters living there. George had
this to say about his visit and about two of those settlers:
"September
19th. Being Sunday, and the People living on my Land apparently very religious,
it was thought best to postpone going among them till tomorrow....
"September 20th. Went early this morning to view my Land, and to receive
the final determination of those who live upon it…
"William
Hillas; 20 acres of arable Land no Meadow. But one house, and that indifferent;
fences not good. "
"Matthew
Hillast; has with my line about 7 Acres of Meadow, 3 besides; Arable; also a
small double Barn."
Overlooking
George's spelling (Matthew probably couldn't write, so George was left to
figure out the spelling based on the sound of the name), could this be our
Matthew Hillis? There's more:
George took
the case to Washington County Court, and the trial was in 1786. After winning
the case, George then sold the land, some 2813 acres, to Matthew Ritchie for
$12,000. Ritchie died, and his heir sold the land in parcels in 1802. And
Crumrine reports that "On the 8th of September the same year ninety-nine
acres were sold to Matthew Hillis."
Further,
another entry by Crumrine tells us that OUR Matthew Hillis was indeed living
right there: "Matthew Hillis was a settler here before these lands were
sold. He had taken up a tract of land on a Virginia certificate, on hundred and
thirty acres of which he sold Dec. 5, 1803, to John McKibbins. He died in 1803.
He left a wife, Elizabeth, and seven daughters, --Elizabeth (Mrs. Hugh
Dobbins), Martha (Mrs. John McKibbins), Eleanor (Mrs. Abraham Boyd), Rebecca
(Mrs. Ebenezer R. Donaldson), Jane (Mrs. ---- Glass), Agnes (Mrs. ----- Smith),
and Mary. There were in 1780 a Richard and William Hillis; the latter was one
of those ejected in 1784."
From other
records, we also now know that Matthew's daughter "Jane (Mrs. ---
Glass)" was actually Jane (Hillis) Glass, the wife of our ancestor Robert
Glass. And note that the buyer of Matthew’s land just before his death was his
son-in-law. Also, from evidence introduced in the court case, we know that the
Seceders (the group of settlers, see below) arrived and settled the area in
October 1773. (Matthew may have been here slightly earlier than that, based on
a 1772 land entry.)
So Matthew
Hillis did indeed have "… about 7 Acres of Meadow, 3 besides; Arable; also
a small double Barn" on land claimed by Washington. However he wasn't a
party to the "ejectment suit" trial in 1786, presumably because only
his little barn was at stake and his house was safely off the disputed area. I wonder
if the 99 acres he later bought include his "small double Barn"? Was
William Hillis his brother, and was Matthew buying back some of his brother's
land too? Was Richard Hillis another brother? Or maybe even his father?
(Terese): I
did a nine-month research paper on William HILLAS/HILLIS, and no, he is not the
brother of Matthew. However I suspect they did know each other, as William
named his third son Mathhew, and both men lived within a few miles of each
other in both Washington Co. and in Cecil Co., Maryland. As for Richard Hillis…
who is he? I have read references made to him via forums but have NEVER come
across any documentation about him.
(Terese): Re
the land dispute: Through a careful reading of Washington's letters to William
Crawford, and documentation pertaining to George Croghan, I am more inclined to
believe that the settlers had a greater right to the land that did Washington.
He was speculating and did so illegally. He used his power to win the case,
knowing that if the traveling Supreme Court Judge heard the case, he would win.
Back in the
1600's, England was doing flip-flops as to whether their rulers were going to
be Catholic or Protestant, and Catholic Ireland was very much a party to this
discord. Whenever the rulers were Protestant, they began to confiscate the
lands of the Irish in Northern Ireland.
And the
English then began to encourage lowland Protestant Scots to settle in Northern
Ireland and counter the Catholic Irish. These immigrants became the
"Scotch-Irish", or if you prefer "Scots-Irish" or
"Ulster Scots". (And there you have the beginning of today's
continuing troubles in Northern Ireland.)
In the
1700's these "Scots-Irish" began to have economic difficulties of
their own, and also to have their own disputes with the English. The Scots
(Presbyterian) did not want to take oaths imposed by the English (Church of
England). And there were internal issues in the Presbyterian Church. So many of
them began to leave, and many ended up in western Pennsylvania.
They often
moved to America with their entire families, or even whole communities. General
Washington, in his notes taken after he had dinner with the settlers, mentions
"…their religious principles (which had brought them together as a society
of Ceceders)…", suggesting these settlers were a close-knit group who
likely had religious association going back to Ireland.
(The
"Ceceders" (Seceders) term refers to a branch of Presbyterianism that
did not go along with all the beliefs of the Established Church of Scotland.
These Seceders or dissenters eventually became the Reformed Presbyterian
Church. Every religious record we find for all our family from this general
time period suggests they were strong Presbyterians.)
Our cousin
Tim Peterman relates an interesting story about the status of these tough
Scots-Irish settlers in Pennsylvania: "The Penn colony centered around
Philadelphia – a Quaker city. Surrounding Philadelphia, Penn wanted
Welshmen, because they were supposedly good in industry. Beyond the Welsh, Penn
wanted Germans, because they were supposedly good farmers. Beyond the Germans,
Penn wanted Scotch-Irish. Why? Because the Scots-Irish (more properly Ulster
Scots) were descended from the lowland Scots that the Stuart kings had sent to
Ireland to bring it under control. Penn figured that the Scots-Irish could deal
with the Indians just as effectively as they had the Irish."
1787 TAX, SMITH TWP, WASHINGTON CO:
Taxed on 300
acres land, 2 horses, and 3 cows.
CENSUS REPORTS: The 1790
census of Washington Co., PA (p. 251) showed Matthew Hillis with 6 females (a
wife & 5 daughters??) The 1800 census of Smiths Twp, Washington Co., PA
showed Matthew Hillis, born before 1755, with a presumed wife born before 1755
and a presumed daughter born 1774-84.
WILL: The will of
Matthew Hillis was written Apr. 3, 1790 & probated Dec. 30, 1803. He names his wife, Elizabeth and seven
daughters: Jean Glass, Agnes Smith,
Elizabeth, Martha, Elenor, Mary, and Rebecca.
Those were their names as of 1790. (The partial text of the will can be
found on ancestry.com. Specific reference: “I will to my Daughter Jean Glass
the sum of 20 shillings.” Part of will missing, copying problem?)
FIND-A-GRAVE:
Reports his
burial in Oak Spring Cemetery, Canonsburg, Washington Co., PA.
Spouse: Elizabeth
CARR
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Birth: abt 1742 White Clay Creek Hundred, New
Castle Co., DE
Death: 6 Nov 1820 Harrison Co., OH
Misc. Notes
The 1820
Census for Ohio, Harrison County, Cadiz Township shows a John McKibben. Ages of
family are broadly consistent with the John McKibben in this web site, who
married Elizabeth’s daughter Martha. And there are two females over age 45,
suggesting that Elizabeth was living there.
Matthew
Hillis died before 1810. The 1810 census
of Smiths Twp, Washington Co., PA showed an Elizabeth Hillis, born before 1765,
with a female born 1784-65, a female born 1784-94, a female born 1794-1800, and
a male born 1800-10. It looks like a
widowed daughter had moved in with her.
We can't say that this was Jane, since we know from his will that
Matthew had seven daughters.
The above
website shows that Elizabeth Carr was born in ca. 1742 in White Clay Creek
Hundred, New Castle Co., DE. Tim
Peterman looked this up on the map & found that this land joins the
Pennsylvania line, just inside of the southwestern most part of the arc that
separates modern Delaware from Pennsylvania.
At the time, Delaware was considered part of PA. She supposedly married Matthew Hillis at the
same place ca. 1767. These dates are of
course estimates.
The death
date of Elizabeth (Carr) Hillis was identified as Nov. 6, 1820 in Harris Co.,
OH. I checked the map & there is no
Harris Co., OH. There is a Harrison Co.,
OH & my current guess is that the author made a minor typographical
error. Harrison Co., OH lies northwest
of Wheeling, VA."
FIND-A-GRAVE:
Reports her
burial as Crabapple Church and Cemetery, located in Wheeling Township, Belmont
CO., OH
Children
Matthew HILLIS ( - 8 Dec 1803) & Elizabeth CARR (abt
1742 - 6 Nov 1820)
Jane HILLIS
(abt 1768 - ) & Robert GLASS
Agnes HILLIS (abt
1770 - ) & SMITH
Elizabeth HILLIS
(1772 - ) & Hugh DOBBINS
Martha HILLIS
(1776 - ) & John McKIBBIN (2 Jan 1763 - 21 Dec 1844)
Eleanor HILLIS
(1778 - ) & Abraham BOYD
Mary HILLIS (1782
- )
Rebecca HILLIS (24 Mar 1786 - 1 Apr 1843)
& Ebenezer Reynolds DONALDSON (29 Dec 1771 - 18 Dec 1840)
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Please
report corrections or additions to... FredCoffey@AOL.COM