RHEA-L Archives

From: EFoley1 <>
Subject: Samuel Rea
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 20:05:31 EST

One must be carefull following the assumption all 'Reas' related to Samuel
Rea.
This Samuel was the son of Matthew Campell Rhea II and Mary Lockart, grandson
of Matthew the Rebel.

Samuel's descendants
have been well researched and I have found very few 'Reas' can be connected to
this line.
Most of the 'Rea's' do not appear to be descendants of Matthew 'the Rebel'
Rhea.
They may be related to him in some other way but appear to have immigrated
from
Scotland rather than Northern Ireland. Here are the first two generations of
Samuel's family.

ED FOLEY

1. Samuel RHEA born 1-Jan-1725, County Down, Ireland, married (1) Eleanor
SNODGRASS, born abt 1725, Ireland, (daughter of Benjamin SNODGRASS )
died 15-Apr-1783, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA, buried:
Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church Cem., married (2) Rosanna ENGLISH, born abt
1725, married (3) Martha Grier WALLACE, born abt 1725. Samuel died
15-Aug-1811,
Green Township, Franklin Co. PA, buried: Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church Cem.

"Immigrated to America at an early age. Settled on a large tract of land
border
of Delaware Bay near Port Pin below New Castle. Has son who was sheriff.
Sherrif's son was a surgeon on one of the largest ships during the revolution.
This ship was lost at sea." (Sullivan Co Kin, Witcher)

About 1750, we find SamuelRhea, oldest son of Matthew Rhea with a
new home established, probably in County
Down, Ireland, wedded to Eleanor Snodgrass (whose grandfather, Benjamin
Snodgrass, a widower . Benjamin Snodgrass, who came from the north of Ireland
and settled in New Britain Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the
Nechaminy Creek, about 1730. See Doylestown--Old and New", by H.K. Davis,
page
4. "By 1725-30 a number of settlers had found homes in the neighboring
township, including Benjamin Snodgrass." Benjamin Snodgrass was a widower and
was accompanied to America by one daughter, Mary. It is presumed that his son
stayed in Ireland, married and was the father of the Miss Snodgrass who
married
Samuel Rhea. There is evidence she was a granddaughter of Benjamin
Snodgrass.).

A large number of Scoth-Irish emigrated to America from 1700-1775, because of
high rents, excessive taxes, and some religious persecution, and we can
imagine
the letters that passed between them and the friends left in Ireland.

To the new home in Ireland came a baby daughter, Ann Rhea, born in 1751. Times
grew more troubled, but from across the ocean came letters about the vast new
country, its beauties, and the warm invitation from the Penns to those who
loved
liberty of conscience to settle in Pennsylvania.

In the latter part of 1754, Samuel Rhea and his brave wife, Eleanor, with
their
baby daughter, Ann, embarked for the New World. We can picture that voyage in
a
sailing vessel, lasting several months, with food and accommodations of the
roughest; fears of the future in their hearts,--all of these very hard on the
young mother. Like Abraham, they left their home and their kindred faring
forth
into a wilderness, "not knowing whither they went". Their second child,
John
was born either at sea, or soon after landing. It is thought they came to
Delaware and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1755.

We can picture the joy when the voyage was over at last and they arrived at
Chester, Pennsylvania. A resting place was found in Chester County, Penn. Of
course the first thought of the new settlers was to obtain land of their own.
One of the first things learned by Samuel Rhea, in his search for land, was
the
fact that the Penn Proprietaries had given instructions to their agents that
they should separate the Scotch-Irish and the German emigrants, as they did
not
agree, and some rioting had resulted from ill feeling between them. The
Scotch-Irish were therefore restricted to the Cumberland Valley. The Rhea
family
moved on to Mill Creek, five miles below Lancaster, for a time. Then Samuel
Rhea
with his growing family journeyed to the Cumberland Valley, in search of
land,
following the road from Lancaster to Carlisle. They traveled on horseback
through mud, across many streams, and finally reached Carlisle.

A description of such a journey is taken from the Diary of Rev. David McClure,
1774. "On this journey we overtook several families moving from East to West.
The man carried a gun and axe on his shoulders. The wife had the rim of the
spinning wheel in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other. Two pack horses
were loaded with the bare necessities of life. On top of the baggage of one
was
a sort of wicker cage in which a baby lay, rocked to sleep by the motion of
the
horse. There was a cow, which bore a sack of meal on her back". It is
probably
a realistic picture of the Rhea family as it traveled from Lancaster to
Carlisle.

It is probable that the family stayed some time in Carlisle, as Cumberland
County was then the scene of appalling Indian outrages, and the settlers were
fleeing to Carlisle, York, and other places of safety. The history of that
period shows that at this very time the fair Cumberland Valley was suffering
from incursions of the Indians, and the savages were committing the most
appalling outrages and cruelties. That they came into the neighborhood in
which
Samuel Rhea located, near Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, is shown in M'Cauley's
Historical Sketch of Franklin County, viz: "On March 29, 1757, the Indians
killed one woman at Rocky Spring and carried off eleven prisoners.

On April 2, 1757, two men were killed on Conochocheague Creek." A number of
others were killed in the vicinity, and as late as 1763, a large body of
Indians
invaded Franklin County, and murdered a number of persons, setting fire to
houses, etc. Most of the settlers fled for safety with their families, some to
the fort at Chambersburg, others to the fort at Shippensburg, and others to
Carlisle or York County. History says there were as many as 1400 of the
panic-stricken settlers in Shippensburg at one time. After putting their
families in places of safety, many of the fearless pioneers returned to look
after their abandoned homes, horses, cattle and crops. In the meantime, Samuel
Rhea continued his search for land, finally settling in Green Township, in
what
later became Franklin County. Into this neighborhood, Samuel Rhea and his
family moved about 1757, braving the dangers of the wilderness, wild beasts,
and
savages, --settling on the Conochocheague Creek. William Lindsay made
application to the Province of Pennsylvania for a grant, warrant, or patent,
number 1188 on September 9, 1766, for 370 acres, 143 perches of land. This
tract
which had been surveyed for him, was situated in Green Township, which later
became Franklin County.

Samuel Rhea made some arrangement with William Lindsay so that his
application
was assigned to him and he received the grant on October 12, 1804, paying
$268.21. At the same date he paid for and received warrants for 40 acres in
Green Township; 125 in Green Township; and 111 acres in Green Township. We
believe that Samuel Rhea at once bought a farm, probably in Green Township,
where he moved, but in addition to the warrants for land paid for in 1804,
there
is a receipt signed by Joseph Kebbe, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for 110, for
100 acres of land on Chestnut Ridge, dated March 1785, making a total of 746
acres owned by Samuel Rhea. Then came the clearing of the land and the
building
of a log house, into which the family moved, as the trouble subsided.
Clearing
the forests, tilling his fertile fields, and building a house, Samuel Rhea
became in time prosperous farmer, and his property became known as the "Rea
Mansion."

Dr. Henry McCook said, "In these humble log huts began the work of home
building
in which the wife was a chief factor. The husband, indeed must feud and fight
for wife and means, for steading and glebe; he must school some, chop down
trees, clear up fields and plant grains." The pioneer had only such
furniture
as could be carried on a packhorse through the wilderness, supplemented by the
furniture he made. An extract from an old Journal says, "Two rough boxes, one
on
the other, served as table, two kegs for seats, and so we spread our bed on
the
floor and slept soundly till morning. The next day, a neighbor coming to our
assistance, we made a table and stool and in a little time had everything
comfortable about us. Sometimes we had no bread for weeks, but we had plenty
of
pumpkins and potatoes, and all the necessities of life." Dr. John McMillan,
the
famous pioneer preacher said, "such luxuries were not much concerned about. We
enjoyed health, the Gospel and in ordinances, and pious friends. We were in
the
place where we thought God would have us to be, and did not doubt that He
would
provide everything necessary."

Apparently about this time or shortly after, Samuel changed the spelling of
his
name to "Rea." The reason for this is not known, but we find documents signed
by
him prior to 1800, using the "Rea " spelling. His oldest son, General John
Rea,
always spelled the name "Rea", but others sometimes spelled it "Rhea" or
"Ray".

Eleanor Snodgrass Rea died April 15, 1783, worn out with the struggle in the
New
World and the soil of bearing and rearing a family in such surroundings. Her
descendants should honor her memory. She was interred in Rocky Spring
Churchyard. Samuel and Eleanor Rhea were true Christians and stalwart
Presbyterians.

Samuel was a man of means and education. One of the papers of the time refers
to "an aristocratic family", the Rhea family. Out on the frontier he built a
home and called it Rea's Mansion. he had a library to dispose of in his will,
(while many people at that time could neither read nor write.) The Mansion
remained in the family until 1826 when Gen. John Rea sold it to the
Cambersburg
Bank for $1010. The mansion house was once the finest in the community,
gradually fell into disrepair and by 1867 it was in dilapidated conditio.
That
years, Charles Stanley Rinehart, a Pittsburg Artist who later gained
international recognitin, made a sketch of it while on a walking tour wiht hsi
friend, James Culbertson Rea, great grandson of Samuel. By 1904 the home had
been retored at which time James C. Rea photgraphed it.

They were members of the famous Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church, and Pew No.
49
still bears the Rhea name. Samuel Rhea had for his second wife a widow named
Mrs. Rosanna English, and after her death he married Mrs. Martha Grier
Wallace,
who survived him. He died August 15, 1811, in his 86th year at the Rea Mansion
and was buried in Rocky Spring Churchyard in the same grave as his first wife
and the mother of his children. The following interesting letter was written
by
John Rea to his brother, Samuel, in Erie County, Penn., communicating the
death
of their father Samuel Rhea:

"The melancholy task devolved upon me of informing you of the death of our
aged
and beloved father, who departed this life on the 15th day of August late in
the
afternoon and on the following day his body was interred at Rocky Spring
Presbyterian Churchyard, attended by a very numerous assemblage of relatives
and
acquaintances. We thought it proper to deposit his remains in Mother's grave,
who has been an inhabitant the silent tomb for upwards of twenty-eight years.
She died in the latter end of April in the year 1783 and, strange as it may
appear to you, her bones were but little decayed. We collected them carefully
and returned them to accompany those of her much beloved husband in the hope
of
a joyful resurrection to them both when time shall be no more. I have often
heard them both say that there was but little differences in their ages. I
know
of no record of either of their ages, but from all the circumstances that I am
acquainted with, father was 86 or 87 years of age, old and full of days...
During the last two years of his life his comforts and pleasures were
considerably interrupted by frequent attacks of giddiness or pain in his head.
The day before he took his last illness he rode up on the South Mountain to a
cold spring, there to bathe his head in hopes of some relief. Indeed his last
ride was the only one he had taken of any considerable distance for many
months
before his decease. In the night after his return from the cold spring, he
was
seized with an excessive pain in the head attended by frequent vomiting. In a
day or two after the attack he was totally deprived of the use of his speech
and
apparently of his reason, and remained in that state till within a few days of
his death, when he was in some degree restored to the use of both. From the
time
that he took his last illness until his death, was something short of two
weeks.
Then ended the life of the man who from filial affection, as well as other
considerations arising from his having been the support of our youth, we are
bound to venerate and respect and always to have his memory in grateful
remembrance."

His estate was worth between $25,000 and $35,000. He owned several tracts of
land, Pine Grove, Reas Farm, Rea Mansion, Chestnut Ridge, Williamsburg, etc.
His will and many letters and documents relating to it are in the possession
of
James C. Rea at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Rosanna: Widow of Mr. English when she married Samuel. Martha: Was the widow
of
Mr. Linday when she married Samuel Rhea.

Children by Eleanor SNODGRASS:
i Ann RHEA born 2-Mar-1751, County Down, Ireland, married Patrick
WRIGHT, born abt 1751. Ann died 24-Apr-1817, Peters Township,
Frankin Co. PA.
2. ii John 'Major General' REA born 17-Jan-1755.
iii William RHEA born 1-Aug-1757, Chester Co. PA, married Sarah
SNODGRASS, born abt 1757. Enlisted in Cumberland Co. in 1777.
Served as Captain. In private life later he was a farmer and
surveyor. He died intestate survived by his wife and six
children
over 21 years of age.
iv Sarah RHEA born 27-Oct-1759, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA,
married
John RENFREW, born abt 1759.
3. v Samuel REA born 27-Dec-1761.
vi Hannah RHEA born 19-Jan-1768, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA,
married John THOMSON, born abt 1766.
vii James RHEA born 8-May-1768, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA, died
abt
1818, Springfield, Clark Co. OH, buried: Sinking Creek Baptist
Society Cemetery.

Second Generation

2. John 'Major General' REA (1.Samuel) born 17-Jan-1755, married 1-Jan-1806,
Elizabeth CULBERTSON, born abt 1755. John died 1-Jan-1829, Chambersburg,
Franklin Co. PA, buried: Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church Cem. Entered
military
service as a volunteer in Cumberland Co. in July 1775. Muster of this
contingent
was answer to a Resolution of the Continental Congress calling for 18
companies
of Riflemen. 1777 Lt., 1778 Capt., 1802 Lt. Col., 1812 Brig. Gen., 1814 Maj.
Gen. He served long and well in congress. He died of food poisoning at the
Robert Peebles Hotel in Chambersburg PA where he had gone to meet some
political
leaders. He was buried with full military honors.
Children:
i Samuel RHEA born 21-Apr-1808.
ii John REA born 28-Jun-1809, Born at Sea.
iii James REA born 23-May-1811, PA?, President of Pennsy. R.R.
iv William REA born abt 1813, PA?. Drowned in infancy.
v Andrew Jackson REA born 1-Jan-1815, PA?.
vi Elizabeth REA born 20-Nov-1817, PA?.
vii William REA born 6-Jun-1820, PA?.
viii Charles REA born 5-Jan-1823, PA?.

3. Samuel REA (1.Samuel) born 27-Dec-1761, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA,
married 1-Jan-1787, in Erie Co. PA, Margaret Jane EATON, born 3-Aug-1766,
Franklin Co. PA, (daughter of John EATON and Jame RAMSEY) died 10-Nov-1830,
Springfield Township, Erie Co. PA, buried: East Springfield Cemetery, Erie Co.
PA. Samuel died 5-Mar-1813, Springfield Township, Erie Co. PA, buried: East
Springfield Cemetery, Erie Co. PA. Went west to Erie County when he was a
young
man. Revolutionary Soldiers of Erie Co. PA, DAR 1927, pg 63,64 - Service as
private Captain John Rea's Comapny, 1st Battalion, Cumberland Co. Militia
commanded by Col. James Johnston Aug. 1780, also Aug. 6, 1781. Also listed as
a
private in Class Roll of Captain John McConnel's company, Cumberland Co.
Militia
Aug. 29, 1782. Margaret: One record says she was the sister of Rev. Johnston
Eaton and thus would be the daughter of John Eaton of Franklin Co. P who had
nine children.
Children:
i John REA born 19-Apr-1788, Chester Co. PA, carpenter, married
1-Jan-1814, in Springfield Township, Erie Co. PA, Nancy LAW, born
2-Dec-1794, County Down, Ireland, (daughter of John LAW and Anna
CARROLL) died 13-Feb-1877, South Buffalo Township, Armstrong Co.
PA. John died 8-Jan-1848, South Buffalo Township, Armstrong Co.
PA, buried: Slate Lick Cemetery, Armstrong Co. PA. In his will
he
left his carpenter tools, steelyards and books. Witnessed by
John
Boyd (son-in-law) and James Reddick. He came from Chester Co. to
Erie Co. in 1812. Has apprenticed at least one person who
immigrated from England in the carpentry trade. Nancy: Came to
Erie
Co. PA in 1812 with her parents.
ii Samuel REA born 27-Oct-1792, Washington Co. PA, married Elizabeth
FERGUSON, born abt 1792. Samuel died 8-Sep-1883, buried: East
Springfield Cemetery, Erie Co. PA.
iii Johston REA born 2-Aug-1805, PA.
iv Margaret REA born abt 1807, PA.
v Eliza REA born 19-Aug-1808, PA.
vi Rebecca REA born abt 1809, PA.
vii Nancy REA born abt 1811, PA.
viii Hannah REA born abt 1813, PA.

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• Samuel Rea by EFoley1 <>