Some pioneers of Washington County, Pennsylvania

This family history centers in one of the pioneer families of Washington county, Pa., Colonel William Wallace and Elizabeth Hopkins, his wife, who were born, reared and married in Montgomery county, Md., and built their home in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania. From this central point the history of the ancestors and descendants of all the families connected with this couple in the United States is given, so far as it has been possible to secure the facts; and it is a typical history of the pioneers generally, who have built up the waste places and made them possible for human habitation. The ancestors of Colonel Wallace were among the pioneers and early settlers of the territory now included in Montgomery county, Md.

 

Table of Contents

I. THE WALLACES, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD.

I. Early Settlements — Brothers Industry 1
II. Ellerslie, Scotland-America 7
III. James Wallace Family 14
IV. The Hopkins Family 22
V. William Wallace Family 32
II. THE WALLACES, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA.
I. Pioneer Life 37
II. Home and Social Life 46
III. Revolutionary Service 56
IV. Political Life 60
V. Bentley Family 64
VI. Greer-Gregg Families 72
III. REV. JOHN SAIITH FAMILY.
I. Rev. John Smith 79
II. High Scott Family 84
III. Smith-White Family 88
IV. Smith-Wallace Family 93
IV. THE READER FAMILY.
I. William Reader 101
II. Reader-Wallace 106
III. James-Charles Reader [Marked Chap. IV. in error] 111
IV. Henry Reader-George Trumbo 117
V. Francis Reader-Catherine James 121
VI. Francis Reader-Eleanor B. Smith 127

 

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The earliest settlements in that part of Maryland now known as Montgomery county, in which the Wallaces of whom this history treats were residents, began about 1050, though the first person to ascend the Potomac river to the head of navigation, was the hardy and adventurous fur trader, Henry Fleet, the English navigator, who explored the country in 1625. he described it as abounding in game, such as deer, buffalos, bears and tin-keys, while the river was full of all kinds of fish, the hunting and fishing for which constituted the chief employment of the Aborigines, consisting of the Indian' tribes of Yoacomicos, Anacostians, Piscataways, Senecas and Patuxents, all under control of the six nations. The country was attractive and fertile, and soon after Fleet's visit, prospectors made their way among the Indians and gained their good will, after which settlers began to enter and make their homes.