RHEA-L Archives

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Subject: [RHEA] Samuel Rhea and Eleanor Snodgrass
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 23:30:22 -0400

These are the primarly Rheas who settled in PA. This line is also one that did not keep the spelling RHEA. The bulk of their descendants used REA.

ED

1. Samuel RHEA born 1725, County Down, Ireland, married (1) Eleanor
SNODGRASS, born about 1725, Ireland, (daughter of Benjamin SNODGRASS and Wife of
Benjamin SNODGRASS) died 15-Apr-1783, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA, buried:
Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church Cem., married (2) Rosanna ENGLISH, born about
1725, married (3) Martha Grier WALLACE, born about 1725. Samuel died 15-Aug-1811,
Green Township, Franklin Co. PA, buried: Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church Cem.
About 1750, Samuel Rhea, oldest son of Matthew Rhea, probably in County Down,
Ireland, wedded to Eleanor 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.
This Benjamin Snodgrass, 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.)

To the new home in Ireland came a baby daughter, Ann Rhea, born in 1751. Times
in Ireland grew more troubled. 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 wife, Eleanor, with their baby daughter, Ann,
embarked for the New World. 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.

A resting place was found in Chester County, PA but of course the first thought
of the new settlers was to obtain land of their own. 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
also a 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 Cumberland Valley was suffering from
incursions of the Indians, and the savages were committing appalling outrages
and cruelties. 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. They settled 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. This tract
which had been surveyed for him, was situated in Green Township, which later
became Franklin County. Samuel Rhea took assignment of this application, paying
$268.21. He received the grant on October 12, 1804. At the same date Samuel
paid for and received warrants for 40 acres; 125 acres; and 111 acres in Green
Township. It appears 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. He cleared the land and built a log house,
into which the family moved as the trouble subsided. Samuel Rhea became in time
a prosperous farmer, and his property became known as the "Rea Mansion."

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".

Samuel was a man of means and education. One of the papers of the time refers
to the Rheas as "an aristocratic family".. 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
Chambersburg Bank for $1010. The mansion house was once the finest in the
community. It gradually fell into disrepair and by 1867 it was in dilapidated
condition. That year, Charles Stanley Rinehart, a Pittsburgh artist who later
gained international recognition, made a sketch of it while on a walking tour
with his friend, James Culbertson Rea, great grandson of Samuel. By 1904 the
home had been restored at which time James C. Rea photographed 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. Lindsay when she married Samuel Rhea.
Children by Eleanor SNODGRASS:
i Ann RHEA born 2-Mar-1751, County Down, Ireland, married Patrick
WRIGHT, born about 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 about 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 about 1759.
3. v Samuel REA born 27-Dec-1761.
4. vi Hannah RHEA born 19-Jan-1768.
vii James RHEA born 8-May-1768, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA, died about
1818, Springfield, Clark Co. OH, buried: Sinking Creek Baptist
Society Cemetery.

Second Generation

2. John 'Major General' REA born 17-Jan-1755, PA?, married 1806, Elizabeth
CULBERTSON, born about 1755. John died 1829, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA,
buried: Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church Cem. Brigadier-General John Rea, of
Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, second child and eldest son of
Samuel above mentioned and grand father of the subject of this sketch, was born
in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Janu-ary 17, 1755, and died at Chambersburg,
February 6, 1829, and is buried in Rocky Springs. His early life was spent in
the Conococheague region, while it was still infested with savage Indians and
amid the hardships of frontier life.

1775 with the outbreak of the Revolutionary struggle he became at once an ardent
supporter of the patriot cause, enlisting in Captain William Hendricks' company,
in Colonel Thompson's rifle battalion, the first armed force from Pennsylvania
to march for General Washington's camp at Cambridge, Massachusetts, leaving
Carlisle, Cumberland county, July 15, 1775, and reaching the camp at Cambridge,
August 8, 1775. This muster was an answer to a Resolution of the Continental
Congress calling for 18 companies of riflemen.

1777 his next service was as lieutenant of a company in the Fifth battalion of
Cumberland county militia to which position he was commissioned January 20,
1777. On July 31, 1777, he was promoted to captain of the Eighth company in the
Eighth battalion, Colonel Smith, being recommissioned May 14, 1778, and again on
May 10, 1780, as captain of the Second company, First battalion, Cumberland
county militia, Colonel James Johnston, and was in active service during
practically the whole war, serving under Colonels Armstrong, Smith and Johnston.

1784 commissioned the first coroner of FranklinCounty, Pa.,on October 20, 1784;

1802 he begame a Lt. Colonel.

With the close of the Revolution he became an officer of the Pennsylvania
militia and rose through the several grades to the rank of brigadier-general,
and during the War of 1812-1814. Served in the War of 1812 as a major general of
the Eleventh Division of Militia.

1814 was major-general of the Seventh division of Pennsylvania militia, in
active service.

His services in the civil department of his native country were not less
distinguished than in the military department. 1789 he was a member of Assembly
from Franklin county in the sessions of 1789-1790, 1792-1793, and 1796 & 1797;

1803 was elected to the United States Congress and served until 1811, and was
again elected to Congress on May II, 1813, for the unexpired term of Robert
Whitehill who died in 1812, and was again elected for the term of 1814-1815.

1823 he was elected to the state senate and resigned in 1824.

1829 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.

Another biography shows:

General John Rea, in November 1806, married Elizabeth Culbertson, born about
1770, died June 6, 1836, at Mann's Forges and buried at Martinsburg, both in
Blair County, Pennsylvania. She was daughter of Colonel Samuel Culbertson, and
granddaughter of Captain Alexander Culbertson, of Culbertson Row, one of the
most prominent families in the annals of central and western Pennsylvania, and
one that probably furnished more officers to the Revolution-ary army than any
other family in Pennsylvania.

The Culbertson Family of Culbertson Row, Ballygan, County Antrim, Ireland, were
of ancient Scottish ancestry, their forbears having fled from Scot-land during
the religious and civil disturbances of the seventeenth century. In 1730, three
brothers, Alexander, Joseph and Samuel Culbertson, from near Ballymoyney, County
Antrim, emigrated to Pennsylvania and settled in Lancaster County. Long prior to
the organization of Cumberland county, they located in what became Lurgan
township, Franklin county, seven miles north of the pres-ent site of
Chambersburg, and called their settlement "Culbertson's Row" after the home of
their ancestors in the Province of Ulster, Ireland. Alexander Culbertson, the
grandfather of Elizabeth (Culbertson) Rea, was a soldier in General Braddock's
army in the unfortunate expedition against Fort DuQuesne, now Pittsburgh, in
1755, and when the settlements on the whole Pennsylvania frontier were
threatened with annihilation by savage hordes of Indians, incited by the French
and left unrestrained by the disorganization of the Provincial forces as a
result of the defeat at Braddock's Field, he raised a company among his
neighbors, of which he was commissioned Captain in Lieutenant-colonel
Armstrong's Second Pennsylvania regiment and marched against the Indians. He was
killed in a battle with the Indians at McCord's Point, Franklin county, April 2,
1756 . He had probably held a captain's commission prior to this time, as we
find him in command of a company at Fort Augusta ,now Sunbury, in 1755. Two sons
of Captain Alexander Culbertson, were colonels in the Revolutionary War: Samuel
and Robert; an other son, Alexander was a captain, and his daughter Elizabeth
was the wife of Lieutenant-colonel Charles Cessna, of the Bedford county
militia. Several of his nephews were likewise officers in the patriot army.
Colonel Samuel Culbertson, son of Captain Alexander, and father of Elizabeth
(Culbertson) Rea, was born in the present limits of Franklin county,
Pennsylvania, December 21, 1741, and died there February 4, 1817. He married
(first) March 20, 1761, Margaret Henderson, born 1743, died April 30, 1775, and
(second) at Rocky Spring church, February 4, 1777, Elizabeth McClay, born 1755,
died June 4, 1817, daughter of the Hon. John McClay of Lurgan township, member
of United States Congress and long a prominent figure in state and national
politics. Brigadier-general and Elizabeth (Culbertson) Rea had eleven children,
nine boys and two girls, two of whom died in childhood.

Colonial & Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania Editor John W. Jordan LL.D.
The Lewis Publishing Co. 1911 Three volume set From Vol. 1 Page 639 Rea lineage.


Children:
i Samuel RHEA born 21-Apr-1808. Relocated to Pittsburg in the
1840's.
ii John REA born 28-Jun-1809, Born at Sea, doctor. Located to
Pittsburg in the 1840's.
iii James REA born 23-May-1811, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA,
President of Pennsy. R.R., married Ruth Blair MOORE, born about 1811.
James died 28-Apr-1868. JAMES D. REA, was the third son of
Brigadier-General John and Elizabeth (Culbertson) Rea and was born
at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1811. He taught school as a
young man and early advocated a public school system which he lived
to see adopted. He located at Hollidaysburg, Blair county,
Pennsylvania, where he was in the canal forwarding offices,
afterwards he became a storekeeper and married Ruth Blair Moore, in
Hollidaysburg, daughter of Thomas Blair Moore. He died in
Hollidaysburg, April 28, 1868. James D. and Ruth Blair (Moore)
Reahad children -Thomas Blair, Jane Moore and Samuel.

Colonial & Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania Editor John W.
Jordan LL.D. The Lewis Publishing Co. 1911 Three volume set From
Vol. 1 Page 639 Rea lineage

iv William REA born about 1813, PA?. Drowned in infancy.
v Andrew Jackson REA born 1815, PA?.
vi Elizabeth REA born 20-Nov-1817, PA?, married 1851, William
SCOTT, born about 1810. William: He was from St. Louis.
vii William REA born 6-Jun-1820, PA?.
viii Charles REA born 5-Jan-1823, PA?. Relocated to Pittsburg in the
1840's. Served in the C.S.A. along with his brothers.

3. Samuel REA born 27-Dec-1761, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA, married
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 PA when he was a young man.
Served as a private, John Rea's Company (his brother), 1st Battalion, Cumberland
Co. Militia, commanded by Col. James Johnston, Aug. 1780 and also Aug. 6, 1781.
Also listed as a private in class roll of Capt. John McConnel's Company,
Cumberland Co. Militia, Aug. 29, 1782. (The Erie Co. "Soldiers of the American
Revolution," published in 1929, Vol. 23, p. 791, of 3rd series and DAR Patriot
Index 1927, pg. 63, 64.)

He is one of the earliest settlers of Erie Co. PA, coming from Franklin Co. PA.
Beers History, Part II, pg. 64, says "Samuel entered 250 acres of land in the
wilderness, living with a neighbor until a hut was erected. Samuel Rea resided
on the farm (which is now one of the most productive in the county) until his
death. Of their family of nine children, two survive: Johnston, and Eliza, wife
of Joseph Ware, residing on a portion of the homestead." This reference cannot
be right however, as his son Samuel was 92 when he died--clearly outliving his
father right in the same township.

We know that this Samuel is the son of Samuel Rhea and Eleanor Snodgrass.
Samuel's brother James wrote him a letter describing the death of his father
Samuel Rhea in 1811, which was published in "Samuel Rea, 1725-1811, Heritage and
Descendants" by Henry Oliver Rea, printed by the Tyrone Printing Co., Ltd.,
Dungannon, Northern Ireland, 1960.

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
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. 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 about 1792. Samuel died 8-Sep-1883, buried: East
Springfield Cemetery, Erie Co. PA. "History of Erie Co.,"
published by Warner Beers Publishing Co. in Chicago in 1884
contains a picture of Samuel Rea (1792-1883) in the book and also a
picture of his brother, Johnston Rea (b. 1805), with biographical
notes on both of them. On Samuel Rea it reads: "Samuel Rea, the
subject of this sketch, was born in Washington, Penn., October 27,
1792. He, with his father's family, moved to Springfield, Penn. in
1804, and on April 12 that year, settled on the farm on which he
lived until the time of his death 8 Sept. 1883. He was of
Scotch-Irish descent, and he inherited many of their traits of
character. He was strictly temperate in a broad sense of the word
and adhered closely to justice, right and truth. Although deprived
of his father's counsel in quite early life, yet these innate
principles were so truly his own, that he never yielded, however
great the temptation. It seemed very necessary that he should be
just what he was. Settling here in the then dense forest, it
required strength, determination, frugality, and all that is noble
for a man to assist in building a home for his parents and finally
for himself. He served in the War of 1812 in recompense for which
he for several years received a pension. He was one of the founders
of the Presbyterian Church in Springfield and united with it in
early manhood and ever endeavored to live a consistent Christian
life. In 1818 he married Elizabeth Ferguson, who in every way
proved herself a true wife, counselor and Christian mother. She
died in 1855, leaving her husband and 8 children to mourn their
great loss. It can readily be seen that had the subject of this
sketch lived until the 27th of October, 1883, he would have been 91
years of age. Thus lived and died one of the early settlers of
Springfield Twp., Erie Co., Pa."

His service record which lists him as a private in 17 Regiment
Wallace's Pennsylvania Militia, War of 1812. He was present August
3-19, 1812 for 2 dollars and 83-1/3 cents and July 23 to August 8,
1813 for 5 dollars and 66-2/3 cents.

In the 1850 census, National Archives Series #M432, Microfilm 778,
page 430 the family is enumerated: Samuel Rea, age 58, male,
farmer, $4,500, born PA, Betsy, age 51, Harriet, age 24, Edmond,
age 21, Louisa, age 18, Matilda, age 16, Mary L., age 13. From the
census and cemetery records it appears they had 10 children; 2 died
in childhood. Some of the dates in the census are confusing.
Samuel was living with three of his unmarried children in 1870 and
1880. Son Edmond is listed as 43 in the 1870 census and 48 in the
1880 census.

Reported in the Crawford Journal, Meadville, PA, Sept. 21, 1883:
Deaths: Rea - At his residence in Springfield Township, Erie Co.
PA, Sept. 8th, Samuel Rea in his 91st year.

iii Johston REA born 2-Aug-1805, PA.
iv Margaret REA born about 1807, PA.
v Eliza REA born 19-Aug-1808, PA.
vi Rebecca REA born about 1809, PA.
vii Nancy REA born about 1811, PA.
viii Hannah REA born about 1813, PA.

4. Hannah RHEA born 19-Jan-1768, Chambersburg, Franklin Co. PA, married John
THOMPSON, born 4-Jan-1765, Scotland. John: Born near Glasgow.
Children:
i Agnes THOMPSON born 29-Dec-1792.
ii Elizabeth THOMPSON born 12-Nov-1794.
iii Hannah THOMPSON born 27-Jan-1797.
iv Alexander THOMPSON born 28-Feb-1799.
v Margaret THOMPSON born 31-May-1801.
vi Samuel THOMPSON born 29-Nov-1803, married Mary KYMER, born about
1803.
vii Ann THOMPSON born 22-Oct-1807.
viii Sarah THOMPSON born 15-May-1810.

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