Alexander Township (part 2 of 2)

It had happened in the course of events that his old friend, Robert Callender, who had been his surety when he assumed the office of Sheriff, died in 1776, leaving by will his Middlesex estate to his son Robert Callender, then a minor. Fifteen years afterward the property was sold from this son at Sheriff's sale and Ephraim Blaine bought it. In the deed which conveyed it to him October 12, 1791, it is described as containing 563 acres, 139 prs. called Middlesex with fifty acres adjoining. At an early day it had belonged to the Chambers, and as James Galbraith's wife, Mrs. Ephraim Blaine's great grandmother, was a Chambers, it is not improbable that in reverting to her the estate had come to its own again.

In May of the next year, 1794, James, the bereft husband was in New Orleans again on a three months' business trip, and in October he was back in Carlisle helping his father to entertain the President of the United States.

The whiskey insurrection was testing the new government. Like most insurrections, it had a reasonable side. The Scotch- Irish had emigrated for liberty, which for them included freedom from restrictions in trade. They had hardly fought through their last fight with the old home tyrant, when here was their own chosen government putting an enormous tax on whiskey. But in the extreme West whiskey was the chief currency. Rye was the chief product. As rye it could not be profitably taken to market, because a horse could carry only four bushels, but of rye changed into whiskey, he could carry twenty-four bushels. Freight in wagons to Philadelphia was from $5.00 to $10.00 a hundred pounds, and such freight ate up both profits and rye. There was no trade down the Ohio, and lower Mississippi was held by Spaniards. Whiskey was the only high road to salt, which was $5.00 a bushel; to iron and steel, which were $15.00 and $20.00 a hundred weight. Consequently distilleries were everywhere, but few of them paid cash for grain. The men of the interior saw the men on the coast drinking their imported wines which transportation by land would make too costly; and they said among themselves, if we cannot import, why shall we not make ? Why should we be called upon to pay duty for drinking our grain, any more than for eating it? And it is hard to see that the question was ever more logically answered than with Light Horse Harry's fifteen thousand troops. But that logic carried the day. President Washington, Colonel Blaine, and the others drank their "cags" of wine, and decided that law, whether good or bad, must be enforced. The nation was not seated firmly enough in the saddle to permit the horse to take the bits in his mouth for a moment.

"September 30, 1794," says Jacob Holtzheimer, "that great and good man. General Washington, President of the United States, set out from his house on Market Street with Secretary Hamilton on his left and his private secretary on his right, to head the Militia to quell the Western Insurrection." His arrival in Carlisle gave a great week to the stirring little town. The President's bodyguard was composed of New Jersey cavalry, handsomely uniformed, and himself had no superior for personal dignity and imposing presence.

But public sentiment in Pennsylvania was republicanism flavored with whiskey, and the soldiers and the citizens were often at odds - once at so great odds that Governor Mifflin found it necessary to soothe the excited crowd from the balcony of the hotel on South Hanover Street. Mr. Paul Metzger, father of Mrs. Robert Blaine, and his twelve year old son George were then on a visit to Carlisle, dividing their time between

Mrs. Robert's house and that of Dr. McCoskrey, father of the late Bishop McCoskrey. General Washington had visited at Mr. Metzger's home in Hanover, and of course, little went on which the lively lad did not see. When his host gave a dinnerparty to the President, Governor Mifflin, Colonel Blaine and other distinguished men, George, being his guest, was, though but a lad, invited, or be it said permitted to appear at the table. This honor he was too shy to accept, but in the prospect of a street fight the small boy's shyness vanished, and through the whole commotion he stood at the Governor's elbow, and so was able to tell us about it.

The President's headquarters were on the opposite side of the street, where both Colonel Blaine's houses were devoted to his accommodation and entertainment. In the one which Colonel Blaine himself occupied on the corner just south of the public square, the President and his staff were guests at his table. In the one adjoining they were lodged. Mrs. Blaine was at this time an invalid, attended and cheered by her young niece, Margaret Lyon, who had been almost reared in her uncle's house; and the young daughter-in-law, Mrs. Robert Blaine, mounted her horse every day, and, leaving her little brood at home, rode in through the green fields, from the Cave Farm, and assumed supervision of the President's entertainment and chaperonage of the young maiden. The sons. Captain James and Robert, took charge of the outdoor arrangements, seeing that "the President's horses" and accoutrements were properly cared for, and all expenses promptly met.

Thus the father had only to devote his time to his distinguished guest, who, in turn, made himself thoroughly agreeable especially delighting young Margaret, by praising her "flannel cakes" and begging her to give him her recipe for them that he might carry it home to his Patty! Yes, "My Patty," Cumberland County and Washington County join hands on that.

History says that while the President was at Carlisle he heard that the insurrection had been quelled. A private theory, firmly held, is that he enjoyed his visit there so much that he was willing to believe the insurrection had never arisen! This theory all must adopt who know what that Blaine home circle was - the host dignified, courteous, hospitable, brilliant, the center of all life and love and gayety ; the children young, bright, strong, devoted - an harmonious family circle; the guests pleased, stimulated, happy, and giving happiness; every comfort, convenience and entertainment that money and generosity and native elegance could supply - all, hosts and guests, at their best in mind, body and estate.

January 15th, 1795, James Blaine and his cousin Margaret Lyon, daughter of Samuel Lyon and Eleanor Blaine, sister to Ephraim Blaine, were married. February 5th of the same year Colonel Blaine lost the wife of his youth - Rebecca, daughter of the Galbraiths. A second month, and the bride's great-uncle, John Armstrong, "eminently distinguished for patriotism,' valor and piety," joined her in the unseen world; the stern and strenuous life, the sweet and cherishing life, going out alike in the atmosphere of sanctity. The last years of the mother had been spent in comparative seclusion, on account of illness and increasing infirmities which banished her from the activities of society, and from all but the ministrations of the family. The household niece, Margaret, could no longer make her uncle her first thought, because her cousin had appropriated it.

So it came about that in his lonely hours Colonel Blaine found solace in the society of a beautiful young widow, who had some two years before his wife's death been bereaved as the result of a duel, in which, strange to say, his son James had acted as second.

John Duncan, a brother of Judge Duncan, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and from whom the Duncan family of Mississippi descended, had some political dispute with James Lamberton, a prominent civil and military officer of that period, and grand-father of the late Hon. Robert A. Lamberton, LL. D.,' President of Lehigh University of Pennsylvania, a dispute,' which, despite the intervention of friends, presently became an altercation so violent and personal as seemed in the judgment of those days to demand blood. A challenge was sent and accepted, and James Blaine and Joseph Postlethwaite were chosen seconds. The duel was fought in a wooded place near Carlisle and Duncan was instantly killed at the only exchange of shots between them.

The Blaine Family 51

distinguished Irish barrister from Dublin, who had died in Pennsylvania. She was thirty-eight years old and Colonel Blaine fifty-six - no forbidding disparity where the man was courtly and commanding, rich and distinguished, handsome and cultivated, in the prime of a successful life, enlarged and softened by experience, in charity with all the world, a man of quick as well as wide views, of prompt decision, unflinching resolution, successful execution, eminent unselfishness, sought by the humblest, valued by the highest.

Some years before. Colonel Blaine, among other transactions, had bought a lot of land on the west side of North Hanover Street, on the public square in Carlisle, not far from his own houses, which were on the east side of South Hanover Street, just south of the public square. On this lot he built two houses, whose every line speaks the lavishment of love and the love of beauty. In his Sheriff's receipt book is a receipt for brick, whose date indicates that its destination was to these houses. Their fine and stately architecture is still a pleasure to the eye and a repose to the soul. No modern Eastlake sentiment can draw more heavily on "sincerity" than these doors, with their massive colonial bulk, their hinges reaching nearly across the door, and showing to the most careless their easy ability to sustain the swing; the arched windows, the ornate yet elegant mantels, and the ample and cheerful rooms, though now given over to business, still speak of the home courtesies and comforts of the past. These houses, complete in every detail, the loving father - wise - man - conveyed to his proud and devoted sons, September 18, 1797; to James Blaine the one on the southerly part of the lot, together with three hundred acres of land; to Robert Blaine, the one on the northerly lot, together with the Cave mill and farm of two hundred and fifty acres, and four hundred acres of mountain land.

Two days afterwards, September 20, Colonel Blaine married Sarah Elizabeth Postlethwaite Duncan, widow of him who had fallen in the fatuous duel. Thus he gained for the solitude of a saddened hearth seven years' companionship with a woman whose Irish wit and beauty, whose elegance and social accomplishments brought down to the middle of the nineteenth cen-

One son was born to them, whom they named for his father, Ephraim, and to whom the happy father by will gave the Middlesex home which he seems to have loved best of all, from which he could never stay long away, and in which he spent the greater part of his closing years. But his beloved wife, Sarah Elizabeth besides personal devises, was to enjoy the whole estate at Middlesex during her life, "if she continues unmarried" (with ample provision, however, even if she should not continue unmarried) , paying out of the same ' ' all that may be necessary for the proper support and education of my son Ephraim Blaine until he shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years." When Ephraim was twenty-one he was to enter into possession of the estate, but was to pay one-half of the profits to his mother during her life and widowhood; "and if my said son Ephraim should die before he would arrive at the age of twenty-one years and without having lawful issue to inherit the same estate, then I give and devise to my grandson Ephraim Blaine, son to my son James Blaine, all the mills and water powers erected on my said estate at Middlesex with two hundred and fifty acres of land adjoining to the said mills to be laid off at the discretion of such of my Executors as shall be void of all interest in the said division and the remainder of my said lands at Middlesex I give to my Grandson Ephraim Blaine, son of my Son Robert Blaine;" and after various other and ample devises to wife and son Ephraim, "all the residue of my estate real and personal I do give and devise to be equally divided between my two sons James and Robert, and I do hereby appoint my two sons James Blaine and Robert Blaine and my Friend David Watts, Executors of this my last will and Testament." The will of a just man mindful of his obligations and acquainted with human nature.

The three young Ephraims were not far apart in years - the nephews a little older than the uncle ; but the latter was not destined to enter into his inheritance. Of the many children who played around the water-brooks of the Cave Farm and the Letort mill-race, it was the infant heir of those broad lands, the beautiful, curled darling of his father's old age, whose little feet stumbled on the brink. Margaret Lyon, Mrs. James Blaine, was spending the day at Middlesex. The little boy, dressed in his pretty white suit with his long fair curls freshly brushed, was brought in to be duly admired and petted by the guest, his cousin and sister-in-law, then dismissed to run about at his liking. Shortly afterwards, not hearing him at play, they called and sought him - in vain. He had wandered down to death in the swift-rushing mill-race.

His beloved wife, Sarah Elizabeth, was loath to remain in the house of her repeated sorrow, and withdrew to Philadelphia, where she "continued unmarried" leading such a life of dignity and distinction as beseemed her blood and name, till, in 1850, she passed away at the ripe old age of ninety.

The sons faithfully executed the trust with which they had been charged, evidently, so far as the records show, to the satisfaction of all concerned.

At the first and second session of the Ninth Congress (1805) James and Robert Blaine, executors of their father's estate, presented petitions for compensation due their father for Revolutionary services in the Commissary Department; but I find no record and no tradition that such petition was ever granted.

From time to time they kept alive before an unheeding Congress the indebtedness of the country to their father, for services rendered and money advanced.

So late as 1818 the Journal of Congress calmly records that "Mr. Baldwin also presented a petition of James and Robert Blaine, executors of the last will and testament of their father, Ephraim Blaine, deceased, a deputy commissary general and commissary general of purchases in the Revolutionary Army, praying compensation for the services of their said father, and for a reimbursement of the moneys advanced by him for the purchase of various supplies for the said army;" but I find no record that Mr. Baldwin got any reply to his petition.

Robert Blaine remained in the Carlisle home, and enjoyed as well the beautiful and picturesque lands on the Conodoquinet. Here in the midst of friends, among whom he had grown to maturity, he spent his days peacefully, and here, to this day, he is represented by descendants who are prominent in all the activities of the city he loved.

Samuel Lyon Blaine

IN JAMES BLAINE, the old Scotch-Irish rover reappeared with renewed vigor. The large business in new rich lands, which to the hereditary Blaine vision that saw clearly into the future, were big with promise, had a tendency to keep the landhunger ever alive. Western Pennsylvania offered tempting fields, frequent visits were made and the going back and forth, the inspection, survey, exchange of lands, and the other traffic, only increased the restlessness of this land-lover and presently with his family he left - never to return - the heritage of Middlesex, the beautiful finished Carlisle home, and all the fair hill country round about, the water-brooks of the Conodoquinet and the Letort, just as his forebears had left Donegal Run and the Chicquesalunga - and pitched his tents on Muddy Creek in Greene County, in what was then the far West; but Margaret found it too far and lonely, and even James missed his good Carlisle society; so thence they fared to Brownsville, where he owned lands in and about the town.

Here several of their children were born among others, Samuel Lyon Blaine (the father of John Ewing Blaine, the editor of this brief family history), who, in his young manhood, following the traditions of the family, turned his face to the West and in 1838 established his home in Maysville, Kentucky.

Two years later (1840) he married Anna Coons (b. 1819, d. 1899), a daughter of George Coons, who at an early day settled in Fayette County, Kentucky.

Samuel Lyon Blaine was a man of strong convictions, an uncompromising Presbyterian in religion, a Whig in politics and later an ardent and enthusiastic Republican. He was a great admirer of Mr. Lincoln and in 1861 was one of seven men in Mason County, Kentucky, who voted for him for President, for which offense, he, with his six political associates, was burned in effigy at the Mason County Court House door. In 1864 he was appointed by President Lincoln Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Sixth District of Kentucky, and discharged the duties of that office with eminent satisfaction until the office was merged in 1873 with that of Collector of Internal Revenue, when he retired to private life. At his death he was survived by his widow, Anna Coons Blaine, and two daughters and six sons.

It was from his home in Maysville that his distinguished nephew, James Gillespie Blaine, entered upon his career in life. During his college days the nephew had frequently visited his uncle to whom and to whose wife he was warmly attached; the pleasure of his visits, the acquaintances he had made and the fascinations of Kentucky life were evidently irresistible for we find him again at his uncle's in Maysville, in the Autumn of 1847, immediately after his graduation from college. Here he remained until the January following when he was offered and accepted a position in the Western Military Institute, located at Georgetown, Kentucky. During his several years stay in Kentucky, he was a frequent and welcome visitor in the Maysville home.

In his various wanderings, James Blaine tarried long enough to acquire local interest and influence, and everywhere he carried on his mercantile business in connection with his investments and other transactions in land. In Brownsville he was commissioned as Justice of the Peace, and entered into the social and business life of the place with zeal and sympathy. Indeed, all the Blaines seem to have considered all Pennsylvania as their natural home and heritage, and wherever James Blaine went he could feel that the feet of his father had trodden the path before him, and all the landed property had been his father's choice, prevision, and judgment as well.

James Blaine's restless spirit did not permit him to remain long in one place and after a few years, wearying of Brownsville, he sought a new home in Sewickley on the Ohio River, near the city of Pittsburg. At Sewickley, not ill-chosen for beauty or for business, he established himself in a comfortable and even imposing house, situated on a plateau commanding a beautiful view, overlooking the river that seemed necessary to Blaine contentment. Tradition points to a large mound in the midst of an orchard of twenty-five acres, on his lands, as marking the center of a field on which a fierce battle between the French and Indians had been fought, and in which were buried the dead braves and their valuables.

This home was filled with joy and gladness of children and youth; for boys and girls grew up around him, eleven in all, seven of whom reached mature life. His children were given the best educational advantages obtainable.

Ephraim, the eldest, named for his grandfather, with his mother's Lyon name incorporated, was early sent to school and college - which was then probably hardly more than a school, but was a full-fledged college in name. The following receipt is still treasured in the family:

At one time there were four Ephraim Blaines in Washington College. Their distinguishing sobriquets were "big Eph," "little Eph," "red Eph," "devil Eph," and "gentleman Eph," scattered somewhat promiscuously among the group. The big and devil Eph seems mostly to have been confined to the son of James, and little Eph and gentleman Eph to the son of Robert. That these sobriquets were not distributed from mere caprice may be inferred from many anecdotes still current, perhaps the earliest being that when devil Eph's mama called attention one day to the swift ruin attending his trousers' knees, the very young gentleman retorted, "That is because Dr. Brown (the President) keeps us at prayers so much."

Leaving college, Ephraim Lyon Blaine studied law and like his father, was sent to travel in Europe, as a matter of mental and social finishing. But there is no tradition that he or his father ever visited the land from which the father came - that North of Ireland, that Londonderry and Donegal, whose names were always held in affectionate remembrance.

In Sewickley lived and prospered James Blaine ; his children were growing to maturity, and here his son, Ephraim Lyon, brought his bride, Maria Gillespie, and to them was born that illustrious American James Gillespie Blaine.

When David Hoge delivered up his Sheriff's staff to Ephraim Blaine in Cumberland County in 1771, he went straightway West and bought up a large portion of the Chartiers Valley, and upon it he laid out the town of Washington, to be the capitol of the new Washington County. In the log house of David Hoge the first court of the county was held, October 2, 1781. Having thus secured the capitol, he followed up his advantage by giving four lots for a courthouse and prison, two lots to His Excellency George Washington, who dearly loved land, and who especially had an abiding faith in corner lots, and who accepted them without a qualm of bribery. Seventy or eighty acres wise David Hoge laid aside for a common, and then speedily sold the whole enterprise to his sons John and William, who took up residence there, while he preserved for himself his own homestead in Cumberland County.

The son William married Isabella Lyon, sister of James Blaine's wife, Margaret Lyon, and thus within a few years there was established a special personal interest and family center for the Blaines in Washington. William Hoge was elected and re-elected member of Congress, and was afterwards made Associate Judge. After his death, his wife married Alexander Reed, from Donegal, son of Robert Reed, who was called to Ireland from Scotland to preach against the Arian heresy, and preached so successfully that his church at one time had one thousand communicants, and his children and great-grandchildren became sole occupants of its pulpit for one hundred and fifty years. His first wife had been daughter of that Colin McFarquhar who preached in Donegal Church for thirty years, and who had been fain to attest to his loving, but doubting, parishioners, his loyalty, by going inside the circle around The Witness Tree and swinging his hat with a hurrah for the Continental cause!

Mr. Reed was a public-spirited citizen whom all the community delighted to honor, and Isabella's house had thus been a pleasant and wholesome home to her kinsfolk. There her young niece, Eleanor Blaine, had met an extremely clever and promising young man, by the name of Ewing. His father, coming down from that inexhaustible Scotch- Irish hive through York, had received his education under the direction of his kinsman. Dr. John Ewing, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, who had served his country on weighty public and political commissions. Mr. Ewing had named his son for his intimate friend, John Hoge, and when the boy came to Washington to attend the college, John Hoge took him into his own family. After his graduation John Hoge Ewing remained in Washington studying and practicing law, practicing the gospel also, by every good word and work. It was this young man whom Eleanor Blaine had met on her visits to her Aunt Isabella in Washington. On the footing of a cousin, though in fact no relation, a classmate of her brother Ephraim and born in the same year, it befell that one week after Ephraim Blaine married Maria Gillespie, Eleanor Blaine married John Hoge Ewing - in her Aunt Isabella's house - because, if married in Sewickley, the way thence was so rough, and the steamers so uncertain, that they ran the risk of having to take their wedding journey in a flatboat, with all and sundry of its inconveniences and discomforts.

Another daughter of James Blaine had also married in Washington - the little Jane Hoge - whose husband was the founder of the first newspaper established in Washington. Thus when age was drawing on and Sewickley grew too remote from kindred for the repose of the evening of life, the elder Blaines could but be attracted to the place where so many of their family had gathered. Morover, a house awaited them, not too far for neighborhood, yet far enough for independence, to which John Hoge Ewing and his wife Eleanor besought and brought her parents. Here James Blaine, a tall and handsome man still, with figure scarcely bowed and only a becoming portliness, with head whitened by years and bright eyes undimmed - came with Margaret Lyon to the society and vicinity of their own people, and there on the green hillside that might well suggest

This narrative closes with the passing of James and Robert Blaine, sons of Colonel Ephraim Blaine, Commissary General of Purchases for the Continental Army.

He who is interested in following the record of the family through later generations, will find as a rule, and without exception, so far as I personally know, a line of men and women, who throughout the years, have maintained the high standards established by their ancestors, and among them men and women who are well known in the world of letters, and as leaders in the higher activities of life; men distinguished in the civil and military life of the nation, in the ministry, in the professions, in the sciences and in the arts.

To one of these whose splendid life was already crowded with distinguished service for his country, came the crowning honor of all when James G. Blaine, the foremost Diplomat, Orator, Scholar and Statesman of his day was nominated for the Presidency of this great Nation.

Part Ii Historical Appendix

THIS Appendix contains an article entitled "Ephraim Blaine, Personal Reminiscences," published in the "Washington Examiner," Washington, Pennsylvania, September 2d, 1858, and extracts from "Fragments of Family and Contemporary History," gathered by Rev. Thomas Hastings Robinson, D. D., published in 1867, "Carlisle Old and New," and from "The History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania."

Notwithstanding its contents are largely a repetition of what appears in the preceding pages, the writer, appreciating the sources from which these writings come, considers them valuable contributions to the Blaine family history and worthy of preservation in this volume.

The Blaine Family 63

In the third volume of the New American Cyclopedia, recently issued from the press of the Messrs. Appleton, we find the following brief sketch of an eminent Pennsylvanian of the Revolutionary era:

"BLAINE, EPHRAIM, an officer in the Revolutionary war, belonging to Pennsylvania line, died at Carlisle, Pa., 1808. He entered the army as a Colonel at the commencement of the war, and was subsequently made Commissary General. His services were gallant and patriotic. He was with Washington in many of the most trying scenes of the Revolution, and enjoyed the confidences of his Chief to the fullest extent. During the "dark winter" at Valley Forge, the preservation of the American Army from starvation was in a great degree owing to the exertion and sacrifices of Col. Blaine."

It would be impossible to do justice, within a single paragraph to the memory and services of so gallant a soldier, so valuable an officer and so worthy a man, as Colonel Ephraim Blaine. Living on his princely estate of "Middlesex" in the county of Cumberland, at the time the Revolution was inaugurated, he at once offered his personal services and his large means to the patriot cause. He was forthwith commissioned by the Continental Congress as a Colonel, was attached to the Pennsylvania line of troops, and did not "ground arms" until the contest was over and the victory won. It happened from the outset of his service that he was thrown much in contact with General Washington and the result was a warm friendship between the two, which manifested itself in a cordial correspondence through a period of more than fifteen years - ^many of Washington's letters being still in the possession of Colonel Blaine's descendants.

Owing to his own marked and meritorious services, both in "camp and field," and aided perhaps by the personal friendship of Washington, Col. Blaine was promoted to the very important post of "Commissary General of the Northern Department" in the year 1778, about the time that the distinguished Gen. Wadsworth was appointed to a similar rank in the Southern department. In this enlarged and most responsible sphere of duty Col. Blaine won imperishable laurels. The district over which he was thus made "General of Commissariat" extended from the Maryland line northward, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and New England and it was to his great energy and oftentimes to the means which he had the individual and personal influence to command, that the "Patriot Army" was kept from actual want and starvation. The large operations for army supplies which Col. Blaine negotiated may be inferred from the fact that at one time (Jan. 1780) the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania drew a single warrant in his favor for one million of dollars to reimburse him for advances which his own exertions and his own means had provided, and at another time a warrant for seven hundred and fifty thousand was credited to him by the same authority in payment of similar obligations. During the "dark winter" at Valley Forge, the most critical and trying period perhaps in the whole seven years' struggle, the American army was left at one time almost entirely dependent on Col. Blaine's efforts, and the faithful and heroic manner in which he discharged his duties at that period was always spoken of in terms of the highest praise by Washington.

Colonel Blaine was with Washington in several of the most critical epochs in the long struggle for our liberties, and was among the most "tried, true and trusted," to the last. At the close of the Revolution he retired to his estate at "Middlesex," which had become greatly impaired by his long absence, though they were still magnificent in their extent and resources. Here he resided for nearly a quarter of a century after the war, in true manorial dignity and hospitality, entertaining his numerous visitors in a style of liberality suited to his social rank and public position, and admirably illustrating the character of the Pennsylvania gentleman of the "olden time." It was at his house that President Washington and suite were entertained when they journeyed to the interior of the State on the eventful expedition, called out by the Whisky Insurrection of the West- ern counties in 1794. During Washington's presidency, Colonel Blaine spent many of his winters in Philadelphia, forming one member of that "Republican Court" which surrounded and gave eclat and dignity to the social rule of our first and greatest Chief Magistrate. Colonel Blaine's son, James Blaine, went abroad in 1791 as an attache to one of the American embassies and was made a few years after the bearer to this country of the celebrated "Jay's Treaty," which was the cause of such an angry congressional controversy immediately after its reception, and which resulted in the permanent estrangement from Washington of some who had been previously reckoned as among his most devoted political friends. James Blaine at the time of his return from Europe was considered to be among the most accomplished and finest gentlemen in Philadelphia - then the center of fashion, elegance and learning on this continent. His reputation as a model gentleman was honorably sustained through life. He died a few years since in Washington County, Pennsylvania, whither he removed after the death of his father. It may be mentioned here that Col. Blaine was one of the original members of the Pennsylvania Society of the "Cincinnati."

The domestic and family history of Col. Blaine were quite as remarkable and interesting as his public career was honorable and patriotic. Shortly after the war was over he lost his wife, who was a Miss Galbraith, of a well-known Scotch family. He passed some years as a widower, and his second marriage was somewhat singular and romantic, to say the least. In the town of Carlisle, near which his estate of "Middlesex" lay, one Judge Duncan was among the most prominent citizens - a man of social rank and high spirit, and some years the junior of Col. Blaine. A personal difficulty happened between Judge Duncan and a lawyer of the Cumberland county bar, named Lamberton, and the result was that a challenge passed and was accepted. The second of Judge Duncan was James Blaine, the son of Col. Blaine already alluded to. The issue of the duel was the instant death of Judge Duncan, who was shot with a rifle-ball directly in the forehead. And now for the singular sequel. A few years elapsed and Col. Blaine married Judge

Duncan's widow - the widow of the man for whom his son had acted as second in the duel which proved fatal to him. The lady survived Col. Blaine a long number of years, and after his death resided in Philadelphia. Her residence was one of the elegant mansions on Walnut Street west of Twelfth and here she lived in a style of true elegance and social distinction until she attained the ripe age of ninety. She died as late as 1850, and is buried in a family vault at Laurel Hill. The descendants and collateral connections of Col. Blaine in Pennsylvania, and in many other parts of the Union, are quite numerous. In this State the family is intimately interwoven with the Lyons, the Russels, the E wings, the Alexanders, the Andersons, the Reeds, the Walkers, the Gillespies, and numerous other branches of the old Pennsylvania stock. The son of Col. Blaine's second wife, Dr. Stephen Duncan, of Natchez, Miss., is widely known as one of the wealthiest planters of the South, his estate being reckoned by millions, while he was otherwise known as the most high-minded philanthropic and Christian of men. Robert J. Walker, late Governor of Kansas, and so distinguished as a Democratic statesman, belongs to the same stock, being a nephew, we believe, of Col. Blaine's wife. Hon. Samuel Russell, late representative in Congress from the Bedford district, in this State, and Hon. A. L. Russell, late Secretary of State, are grand-nephews of Col. Blaine. Hon. John H. Ewing, former representative in Congress from the Washington district, married a grand-daughter of Col. Blaine; and Robert C. Walker, Esq., well-known in our State, and now connected with the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, is connected by a similar tie. A branch of the family is to be found in South Carolina, intermarried with the Wheatons of that State; another branch is settled in New Jersey ; another in Missouri ; another in Iowa ; and still another in Arkansas; while one lineal descendant, a grandson of Col. Blaine, has wandered off northward to New England. We allude to James G. Blaine, Esq., formerly a resident of this city, and a successful contributor of the Whig press, but who now resides in Maine, and edits one of the leading Republican papers in that State. The male members of the blood bearing the family name are scarce. At one time, since the death of Col. Blaine, he had five namesakes among his relatives, but not one of them now survives. The name itself, therefore, belongs to comparatively few, while the blood flows in the veins of a very large number.

It is interesting thus to trace out the ties of consanguinity which bind the present generation to the worthy and good men of the past. We have no sympathy with that miserable and sickly feeling which induces a man to live on the reputation of his ancestry, and we have just as little with that affected contempt for a "good family stock" which certain persons are in the habit of parading. The true feeling and true ambition should be to cherish a worthy pride in one's honorable ancestry by emulating their worthy deeds. We believe, at all events, in keeping the patriotic deeds of our Revolutionary heroes fresh in the remembrance of posterity, and we have therefore thought that nothing would prove more acceptable to Pennsylvania readers than this brief sketch of Colonel Ephraim Blaine of Middlesex.

Such a picnic as we had on Thursday last, under the maples on the lake shore, near Moorhead's Station! It was a reunion of the Robinson, Blaine and McCord families, whose fathers came from Cumberland County and settled in Erie County near the close of the last century. Intermarriage with the Crawfords and Moorheads brought out those families in heavy force. The scattered members of this connection had gathered from the sea-shore and the far-away prairies. Some crossed the Alleghenies to be present, and Pittsburg alone sent more than a score of her substantial sons and fair daughters to grace the gathering.

Sail-boats and row-boats abounded. Swings were affixed to the branches of the trees. The "Old Flag" seemed to float from everywhere; a spring of water bubbled up from the foot of the bluff ; the blue waves of the lake were at our feet and the greenclad limbs of the great broad maples were overhead. The day was glorious, the arrangements were complete, thanks to the gallant Col. Robinson, who was "pastor of said church in charge." Such a table! Why, bless you, Mr. Lynn, it was all there; nothing was omitted, though, of course, anyone knowing the ladies of the connection knew how that would be. The flowers were beautiful; the ladies seemed to have anticipated the season and rifled October of her fair blossoms - those of the gorgeously dazzling color combinations. Grace was said by the Rev. Mr. Cleveland and chaste and appropriate allusion made to the occasion. Two hundred and fifty of the connection then sat down to dinner and when that was over the singers sang America and an address, historical in its character, and of great interest to the numerous connection was read by the Rev. Mr. Robinson, of Harrisburg. The tears in the eyes of the aged and the eager expressions of curiosity upon the faces of the young, gave token of the interest excited in the numerous reminiscences of the events in the early lives of their fathers. Allusion was made to those of the name that had drawn the sword and fallen upon the field for Union and Liberty, and thanks were given that none of the name had sided or sympathized with traitors, and the singular fact was mentioned that not one had abandoned Presbyterianism, the faith of their fathers.

* * * It is a laudable desire to know more of the men who have, under God, had so large a share in shaping our own destiny, running the features of our physical frames and of our intellectual and moral natures in the moulds in which themselves were cast. It is with this desire to know more of the men of the past, of our own fathers, that we have gathered up from every available source, the scattered fragments of history which follows.

* * * Our ancestry are of Scotch origin, or of that branch of the Scotch familiarly known in history as the Scotch-Irish. This class of people were so-called from the fact that they were descendants of Scots who had settled in the north of Ireland under the reign of James I. By the protracted wars in the time of Elizabeth the whole kingdom had greatly suffered, but the northern portion of it had been reduced to the lowest state of misery. James determined to settle these lands with a population who would be disposed to the arts of peace and industry. The Scots therefore were invited to occupy the province of Ulster, in the north of Ireland, and they did so in large numbers, bringing with them their Presbyterianism and rigid adherence to the Westminster standards. Persecutions of a most oppressive nature at length arose during the reign of Charles I, and as these persecutions continued during the reign of subsequent sovereigns, they began to leave in large numbers. The Ameri- can Colonies opened their arms to welcome them and hither they came. Few, if any, of the Scotch-Irish came to Pennsylvania earlier than 1719.

* * * In the year 1729 six thousand of the Scotch-Irish are reported to have come to this country, and before the middle of the century, or 1750, nearly twelve thousand arrived annually for several years. Some found homes in New England, but the greater number of them made choice of Pennsylvania for their new homes, although many of them afterward removed to Virginia, the Carolinas, and at a later day to Kentucky.

* * * The region in which our ancestry originally settled can hardly be surpassed by any part of the country for its natural advantages and the beauty of its scenery. It was to them a wilderness where they were the pioneers. They dwelt in the region immediately surrounding Harrisburg, the present capitol of the state of Pennsylvania - then but the site of a ferry, a stockade and a trading post with the Indians. The Kittatinny mountains, an extensive range, which begins in eastern New York among the Catskills, and extends southward through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas, bearing different names on its way, formed for some years the western boundary of the settlements. These mountains were broken here and there by small gaps, and boldly cut asunder where the many-islanded Susquehanna forced its way through. From the western bank of the Susquehanna extended southward one of the most enticing valleys of American scenery. This valle3^ now known as the Cumberland Valley, was originally called Kittochtinnyfrom the mountains that formed its western boundary. The valley, like the mountains, stretches from eastern New York to the Carolinas, and assumes many different names. In Virginia it is the Shenandoah. This region possessed peculiar attraction for hardy and adventurous settlers.

* * * Our ancestry, the Robinsons, McCords, Blaines, Moorheads, Blacks, etc., with their friends and neighbors from the old world, occupied this beautiful region of central Pennsylvania for twenty or thirty years in almost uninterrupted peace. They went on in the even tenor of their way, extending and improving their farms, patenting new lands, rearing and educating their children, planting everywhere the school-house and the church. They penetrated farther to the westward, crossed the Susquehanna, scattered over the beautiful valley now known as Cumberland, and at the time of which we now speak, 1754, a few had gone over the Kittochtinnyinto the valley beyond and a few had made settlement along the Juniata. At this date Pennsylvania was a royal province, ruled by governors appointed by the Penn family and approved by the King.

* * * Of the part our ancestry took in the memorable struggle with Great Britain in the seven years war for national independence, we have but scanty memorials. Sharing, however, in that love of civil and religious liberty which characterized the Scotch-Presbyterians of that day, and drew them into the front of the great struggle for American independence, they were not slow to bear their part in it. The settlements of central Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina, where this class of people originally settled, furnished many of the bravest and hardiest men for the Revolutionary service.

* * * Of the ancestors of the Blaine family Colonel Ephraim Blaine, of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, stands most distinguished for his personal ability and for his public services during the period of the Revolution. Prior to the opening of the Revolutionary struggle, during the Indian Wars of 1755-64, we meet him in the records of that day a prominent and influential man in the central part of the State. He seems to have been a man of large property. During the larger part of the Revolutionary conflict he served as a quartermaster-general of the army and was largely trusted by General Washington, who made his house his headquarters when in Carlisle. His letters, which may be found in the records of the State and of the general government, though pertaining to the commissary supplies of the American army, prove him to have been a man of ability and decision. Colonel Blaine had two sons, James and Robert. James married a member of the Lyon family, which numbers among its living members Rev. Dr. George A. Lyon, of Erie. James Gillespie Blaine, a grandson of Colonel E. Blaine, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvaina, in 1830; graduated at Washington College in 1847; adopted the profession of editor and having removed to Maine, edited the Kennebec Journal and Portland Advertiser for several years. He served four years in the Maine Legislature, two of which as Speaker of the House; and in 1862 he was elected a Representative from Maine to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, serving as a member of the committee on Post Offices and Post Roads. Re-elected to the Thirtyninth Congress, serving on the Committee on Military Affairs and the Special Committee on the Death of President Lincoln, and as chairman of that on the Debts of the Loyal States. *

One of the daughters of Robert Blaine, Rebecca, was the wife of Rev. J. Chamberlain, D. D., a distinguished divine of the Presbyterian church, the President successively of Center College, Kentucky, and of Oakland University, Mississippi. An interesting account is given of his life, labors, character and tragical death in Rev. Dr. Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit." A second daughter married Hon. Samuel Alexander, of Carlisle, who for many years was a leading lawyer and able jurist of Cumberland county court. Two or more brothers of Colonel Ephraim Blaine also resided in Cumberland county, but of their families we have but fragmentary knowledge. The Rev. Dr. Matthew Brown, at one time President of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, and who was succeeded in the same office by his son. Rev. A. B. Brown, D. D.,and by his son-in-law, Rev. D. H. Riddle, D. D., was connected with this branch of the Blaine family by marriage. So also was Rev. Francis Herron, D. D., for many years the honored and beloved pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

*James Gillespie Blaine was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving on the Committee on Appropriations and Rules; was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress and made Speaker of the House, holding the same position during the Forty-Second and Forty-third Congresses; also re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress, from which he resigned to accept election as United States Senator from Maine; re-elected to Forty- fifth Congress as Senator from Maine. March 5, 1881, accepted appointment as Secretary of State in Cabinet of President Garfield, and resigned immediately following President Garfield's death. In 1884 was nominated for President of the United States on the Republican ticket. In March, 1889, accepted appointment as Secretary of State in Cabinet of President Harrison and resigned in June, 1892. Died in Washington City, 1893.

The Blaine Family 73

* * * It would be a pleasure to recall personal incidents in the history of many who have passed away, but whose memory remains dear and honored with the living. Of the descendants of the original settlers in central Pennsylvania, scarcely one of the states south and west of New York has failed to receive some represenatives. Many of these families are now wholly unknown to each other. Families once large and promising have by the providence of God become nearly extinct, while others thrive and multiply in numbers. Moving westward and southward, they were the original settlers, in the main, of central Virginia, of central and western Carolina, of western Pennsylvania, of southern Ohio, and of large portions of Kentucky and Tennessee. A few families departed at the close of the century for the shores of Lake Erie on the north, leaving but one or two to linger in the region of the Susquehanna.

This history would be incomplete if I did not refer to that greatest event of modern times and to the part our families bore in it - I refer to the late rebellion.

Our earliest fathers passed through scenes that tried their souls and called out the highest heroism and self-sacrifice. They bore their part in the terrible war with Indian savages from 1755 to 1764. They shared in the toils and sufferings and triumphs of the Revolutionary struggle that secured American independence. Not one of them was numbered among the Tories of that day. No one of them bears a dishonored name. They took part again in the war of 1812 along the shores of Lake Erie and in the valley of the Mississippi.

When the late war for the severance of the American Union broke out, of those whose history is known to us, nearly to a man they ranged themselves against the rebellion and in favor of a perpetual Union. Their hearts were filled with loyal emotions. They contributed influence, money and men for their country's defense. They were with the armies of the west and of the east, and met the fortunes and hardships of war in nearly every one of the rebellious states. Some of them were among the first that answered the call of their country, and among the last to be disbanded when the rebellion had been vanquished.

We weep over some that fell, but it had been with bitterer tears had they faltered and turned back. We rejoice in the well- won honors of all, and thank them in the name of all our families, and in the name of their revolutionary sires who gave us the country which they have helped to preserve, for the luster of their patriotic record.

It is a matter of great regret that there is no portrait of Colonel Ephraim Blaine, distinguished son of Carlisle, an eminent citizen and a devoted patriot.

A child of wealth born in 1741, he was in the full flower of his manhood when the newly declared free and Independent States of America, being in imminent peril, needed and received that magnanimous support of personal service and private wealth that is indelibly associated with his name. It is stated that after saving the army from starvation in the awful winter of 1777-1778 he was made Commissary General of the entire Continental Army on the personal recommendation of his military chief and warm friend General Washington.

These patriotic financial sacrifices greatly impaired his estate. The mansion at his beautiful country seat on the Conodoquinet near the Cave has been destroyed by fire. It was here he spent the closing years of his life and here he died at the age of sixty-three.

Rev. Conway P. King, D. D., Historian. The place of rendezvous for the troops of Pennsylvania was at Carlisle, and there in October was mustered the full force which had been called for by the President. Cumberland county, in which the true spirit of patriotism had now regained full sway, gathered its complete quota of 363 men, including officers, which, with similar quotas from York, Lancaster and

The Blaine Family 75

Franklin, were placed under the command of Brig. Gen. James Chambers of Franklin County. They were encamped on an extensive common near the town, said to have been admirably fitted for the purpose. On the first of October, Thomas Mifflin, the Governor of the State, arrived at Carlisle, and in the evening delivered an animated address in the Presbyterian church. On Saturday, the 3d of October, at 12 o'clock it was announced that the President was coming on the road from Philadelphia and Reading. Three battalions and the artillery paraded for his reception. A writer described the approach of "the beloved Washington in a traveling dress, attended by his secretary, Alexander Hamilton." As he passed our troops he pulled off his hat and in the most respectful manner bowed to the officers and men, and in this manner passed the line who were (as you may suppose) affected by the sight of their chief for whom each individual seemed to show the affectionate regard that would have been paid to an honored parent. As he entered the town the inhabitants seemed anxious to see this very great and good man, crowds were assembled in the streets, but their admiration was silent. The President passed to the front of the camp, where the troops were assembled in front of the tents; the line of artillery, horses and infantry appeared in the most perfect order, the greatest silence was observed. The spectacle was grand, interesting and affecting, every man as he passed along poured forth his wishes for the preservation of this most valuable of their fellow citizens. Here you might see the aged veteran, the mature soldier, and the zealous youth assembled in defense of that government which must (in turn) prove the protection of their persons, family and property. In the evening the court house was illuminated and a transparency was exhibited with the inscription in front, "Washington is ever triumphant," and on one side, "The reign of the laws," and on the other "Woe to anarchists."

The President remained at least seven days in Carlisle, the guest of Col. Ephraim Blaine, *and having his headquarters in the next house. Along with him, the members of his cabinet and Governor Mifflin, were many Senators and Representatives from Pennsylvania ; and these, together with the New Jersey and

Eastern troops, formed a brilliant and numerous assemblage, such as our country had never before and has never since witnessed. The day after his arrival General Washington attended public worship, during which a discourse was preached by Dr. Davidson.

*In this final notice of this distinguished officer and pure patriot we take occasion to add some circumstances of interest concerning him. We had reason to suppose that he was the Lieutenant who so bravely defended Fort Ligonier in the Indian war. In his correspondence he frequently dated his letters from "Cave Middleton," by which he designated his beautiful seat on the Conodoquinet near the cave in Middleton Township, about a mile and a half north of Carlisle. He was born at Carlisle in 1741, and lived in wealth and refinement. But he was ready to sacrifice all at the call of his country. He was commissioned early in the war as a Colonel in the Pennsylvania line, but in 1778, was made Deputy Commissary General in the Middle Department, embracing several of the states. Here he was thrown much with Gen. Washington, whose counsel he shared. An officer of the present commissary department says that after saving the army from starvation in the awful winter of 1777, in the ensuing summer, on the resignation of General Wads worth, he was made Commissary General of the entire continental army on the personal recommendation of General Washington. This position he held until the close of the war. He was a man of large fortune, and the records show that during the Valley Forge winter, with the aid of his personal friends, he made an advance of $600,000 for the use of the patriot army. Millions upon millions passed through his hands without a suspicion of his purity and disinterestedness. His estate became impaired by his sacrifice but still remained ample. It was at his house that Washington lodged during the insurrection. He spent many of his winters in Philadelphia, where he was a distinguished member of the "Republican Court." His son James went abroad in 1791 as a merchant, and became an attache to the American embassy in Paris, but returned as the bearer of despatches connected with Jay's treaty. He was then called the most accomplished gentleman in Philadelphia, and died in Washington County, Pa., whither he removed after his father's death. His son Ephraim was the father of James G., who was born in Washington County, removed to Maine, and is the present distinguished senator from that state. Ephraim Blaine's other son Robert married Anna S. Metzger, and resided on the paternal farm near the cave. Col. Ephraim Blaine's first wife was Rebecca Galbraith and his second was Mrs. Duncan, whose first husband fell in a duel. His descendants have intermarried with the Lyons, Metzgers, Alexanders, Hays, Gilchrists and Hendersons. His son owned a home near the pubUc square on the west side of North Hanover street in Carlisle. He died at his seat near Carlisle, February 16th, 1804, in the 63rd year of his age.

Part 111 Genealogical

As A great-grandson of Colonel Ephraim Blaine, I undertook for my own pleasure to compile a genealogy of the family of my illustrious ancestor, As the work progressed I found such intimate relations existing between it and the family of his brothers, Alexander and William, and his sister, Eleanor, that I have extended my work so as to embrace these families as well. While there are many omissions from the record, which I greatly regret, I can frankly say such omissions are not altogether because of lack of effort on my part to make the record complete in all particulars.

John Ewing Blaine Genealogy

Of the family of JAMES BLAINE, b. about 1715, d. 1792, and Isabella Blaine, his wife, both of Scotch-Irish descent, who came to America in 1745 and settled in Donegal Township, Pennsylvania. M. 2d, Elizabeth Carskaden.

[NOTE - The numerals preceding individual names in the following Genealogy, denote: First, (large figures) Rank in father's family; Second, {small figures) Rank in generation beginning with James Blaine, emigrant ancestor.]