Robert Brackenridge

Male Abt 1735 - 1779  (~ 44 years)


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  • Name Robert Brackenridge 
    Born Abt 1735  Ireland/Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Other-Begin 1779  Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    story of Indian raid 
    • History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley 1856
      Chapter XXVIII, pages 289 292
      U. J. Jones

      Woodcock Valley, located north of Huntingdon, is one of the oldest settled valleys in the county. In the days of Indian depredations, it was a favorite haunt of the savage, whose great war path from the West to the East went through a part of it.

      The first murder committed in it during the Revolutionary struggle occurred at Coffey Run, near the present residence of Mr. Entriken. The victim was a man named Elder, the husband of the woman mentioned in a preceding chapter as having been carried a captive to Detroit by the Indians. As there is no living witness who was present, the circumstances connected with his massacre are merely traditionary. He was on his way home in company with Richard Shirley, when he was shot and scalped; in which condition he was found by a scouting party a day or two after the occurrence. This was in 1778, and the same year a number of captives were taken from the valley; but the accounts are so vague that we can give no reliable data.

      The Breckenridge family lived about three miles southeast of McConnelstown, on the road which now leads from Huntingdon to Bedford, on the farm at present occupied by Ludwig Hoover. The family consisted of the father, mother, two sons, John and Thomas, aged respectively eighteen and sixteen years, a girl aged fourteen, another aged three years, and an infant at the breast. They had, during the alarms of massacres, forted at Hartsock's Fort, which was almost in sight of their farm; but in the spring of 1779, the alarm having in a great measure subsided, they, was well as the rest of the settlers, went home, and the fort was abandoned, under the full impression that they would have no further use of it, that Indian depredations were ended. In this they were most signally mistaken.

      In July, probably about the middle of the month, one morning, directly after breakfast, the sons, John and Thomas, started in search of a horse that had broken from his enclosure the night previous. After they had gone, the old lady occupied herself in her household duties, while the oldest daughter repaired to the spring house in the meadow, a distance of probably five hundred yards from the house, for the purpose of churning. While engaged in this occupation, she was suddenly confronted by five Indians. Probably overcome by fright, she made no effort to escape, but screamed at the top of her voice. The father, without suspecting the real cause of the difficulty, started, unarmed, in the direction of the spring house, and when within twenty yards of it a bullet from one of the Indian rifles struck him, and he fell dead in the path. Mrs. Breckenridge was looking out of the window at the time, and, fearing that their next move would be in the direction of the house, she snatched the infant out of the cradle, and, taking in her arms the other child, escaped. Instinctively she took the path toward Standing Stone, a direction in which the Indians were not likely to follow. She pursued the path along Crooked Run for a few miles, and then sank exhausted upon the ground. As soon as she rallied, she endeavored to continue her way to the Stone; but to her dismay she found that she had wandered from the path and was lost. In this condition, she wandered about the woods with her children the whole day and the entire night. Next day, the oldest child complained bitterly of hunger, when the mother fortunately came to a rye field. The rye was just beginning to head, in spots, and she gathered a number of heads, rubbed out the kernels, and gave them to the child. As the operation was a tedious one, in consequence of the scarcity of the grain, she took off her under garment, wrapped up the infant and laid it down, and went to work to procure sufficient to appease the appetite of the child, and while so engaged she unconsciously wandered a considerable distance from the infant.

      John and Thomas returned to the house with the horses late in the afternoon; and, seeing their father and sister murdered, believed that the mother, with the other children, had either met the same fate or been carried into captivity. They lost no time in making their way to Standing Stone Fort, where they communicated the sad intelligence. By the time it was nearly dark, and entirely too late to make any further effort; but at the dawn, next morning, a posse of men went to Breckenridge's house, where the murdered father and daughter lay, and, while part of the people employed themselves in removing the bodies preparatory to burial, another party scoured the country in search of the mother, being encouraged to do so by seeing her tracks leading toward Crooked Run. Late in the afternoon they found her, at the edge of the rye field, leading her child; but the anguish she had endured had in a measure unsettled her mind, and she was unable to tell where she had left the infant. It was deemed advisable to remove her to the fort. By next day, she had so far recovered as to be able to state that she left the infant in the field; whereupon a party set out, and returned with it in the evening.

      The infant had apparently not suffered a great deal, except from the annoyance of flies. Its entire face was fly blown; and yet, strange to say, she recovered, grew to be a strong, healthy woman, got married, and was the mother of Isaac B. Meek, Esq., formerly a member of the legislature from Centre county, and, we were told, died but a few years ago.

      http://genforum.genealogy.com/breckenridge/messages/957.html
    Died Jun 1779  Penn Twp, Huntingdon Co, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Subj: Re: Breckenridge
      Date: 12/11/00 3:59:28 PM Central Standard Time
      From: Genealogy4999 (Marilyn & Bill from Hawaii)
      To: Lumoto

      Hi Sherry,

      Here is what Bill Putman wrote:

      SOURCE-BIRTH DATE-BACKGROUND-SPOUSE-CHILDREN-DEATH:
      PAT-003: “The Patterson Family History by William B. Putman, jr.; 288 Scudder Avenue; Hyannis Port, Massachusetts 02647; Updated through February 1993"; 'The Breckenridge Family History' pp 69-70.

      "Robert was born in about 1735. He could have been born in Northern Ireland or in Pennsylvania as the family came to America sometime in the 1730s.

      In about 1760, he married Margaret Douglas in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Both the Douglas and Breckenridge families were there from the mid 1750s. The elder children, John and James were born there.

      By the early 1770s, the lands west of the mountains were being opened up for settlement. Robert and his family took up farm lands in Hopewell, now Penn Township of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. His is listed among the first dozen or so families to move into the area.

      These lands in the Juniata Valley were historically Indian hunting grounds, and as white settlers moved into the area troubles arose.

      The following is taken from the HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA:
      'During the latter part of 1778 and the early months of 1779 there were frequent rumors of Indian incursions east of the Allegheny Mountains and some murders committed. In the latter part of June, Robert Breckenridge and his daughter were killed and scalped by the Indians on their plantation three miles southwest of McConnellstown in Penn Township. This event struck terror among the residents of the adjoining valleys, and as a result the Frankstown settlement was almost abandoned.'

      There is a three page story of the Breckenridge Massacre in U. L. Jones' book, A HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY. The story basically tells how the two sons, John and James, were out looking for a horse that had run away the previous night. While they were gone, Indians attacked their younger sister. Hearing the screams, the father, Robert Breckenridge, ran to her aid and was shot and killed. Then the Indians killed the daughter as well. The mother, Margaret, grabbed her two small daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, and fled into the woods where they hid until the next day. The two boys returned home in the afternoon and found the bodies of their father and sister. They ran to the Fort at Standing Stone and made the report. The mother and sisters were found the following day.

      In the meantime, it was thought that the entire family had been murdered. The boys were taken by two separate families. One son, John, was taken by a family that immediately moved out in fear of their lives. They went to Virginia near the present site of Washington D.C. James was reunited with his mother and sisters, but John was gone, seemingly forever.

      John Breckenridge remained in the Washington area and became a Presbyterian minister and founded a college there. James Breckenridge, my ancestor, remained in Pennsylvania. He eventually moved to what was the Patterson Settlement near present day Florissant, Missouri in 1820.

      The story goes that one day James Breckenridge was telling the story of his early life and separation from his brother to a man named Gross. Gross said he had heard the same story from the Reverend John Breckenridge in Washington years before as a child. Letters were exchanged between the two lost brothers and in 1839, Reverend John Breckenridge made a trip to Missouri and after a separation of over 60 years, the two brothers were once again reunited. . . . . .

      . . . . . Margaret Douglas Breckenridge remained in the area with the remainder of her family. She remarried to a man named Doyle. I do not know anymore about the marriage. Margaret wrote her will on December 15, 1788. It is in Will Book I of Huntingdon County.

      In ORPHAN COURT ABSTRACTS, HUNTINGDON COUNTY DOCKET A, there are several listings on October 21, 1789. James Brackenridge, age 17, requested George Reynolds to be his guardian. Margaret Brackenridge, age 14, also requested George Reynolds. Margaret Doyl (late Margaret Brackenridge) requested the court appoint George Reynolds guardian over Elizabeth Brackenridge age 12.

      In the same book on March 25, 1790, Margaret Doyle (late Margaret Brackenridge, widow and administratrix of Robert Brackenridge deceased) stated there was a remainder of the estate to be divided between her and five children. The mention of five children is tough. I can only account for James, Thomas, Margaret and Elizabeth. John is the fifth, I guess, but I did not think she know where he was. (Note: Probably a child w/ Doyle)

      The Breckenridge farm was sold to Ludwig Hoover of Maryland in 1789. This was probably about the time Margaret remarried. I have no other information on Margaret after 1790. She was in her sixties by then and probably died in the early 1790s."
      (Note: she probably married soon after the murders; her she might have been sick/incapacitated to care for her children, probably widowed again, and liquidated her belongings & tried to provide for her children)
    Person ID I14108  Roots
    Last Modified 10 Feb 2011 

    Father Robert Breckenridge,   b. Abt 1693,   d. Aft 1740, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 48 years) 
    Family ID F5340  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Margaret Douglas,   b. Abt 1740,   d. Aft 1790, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 51 years) 
    Married Abt 1760  Cumberland Co, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. (dau) Brackenridge,   b. Abt 1764, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Jun 1779, Penn Twp, Huntingdon Co, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 15 years)
     2. Rev John Brackenridge,   b. Abt 1768,   d. Aft 1839, Florissant, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 72 years)
    +3. James Brackenridge,   b. Jul 1774, Huntingdon Co, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Jun 1853, St. Louis Co, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 78 years)
     4. Margaret Brackenridge,   b. 1775, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1790  (Age > 16 years)
     5. Elizabeth Brackenridge,   b. 1777, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1790  (Age > 14 years)
    Last Modified 10 Feb 2011 
    Family ID F5341  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart