William Crain, son of William and Jean Crain, served as a private in Captain William Brown's company of "Associators " in 1776. He married Ann Espy, born in 1739, died December 12, 1802. Ann Espy was a sister of Abigail Espy, who married Anthony Creight, or McCreight. Abigail died March 5, 1804, and Anthony died February 26, 1804.  William Crain died January 8, 1802."         

6.  JOSIAH ESPY (JOSIAH3, HUGH2, GEORGE1) was born 1699 in North Ireland, and died Bet. 1760 - 1762 in Hanover Twp, Lancaster Co., PA.  He married (1) MISS BUELL.    He married (2) ELIZABETH CRAIN 1740.  She was born 1719 in County Down, Ireland.

Notes for JOSIAH ESPY:

“Josiah Espy, son of George was born in the north of Ireland in 1718, and came with his parents from Ireland in 1729. They located in Hanover, Lancaster county, now Lebanon county, where Josiah died in 1762, aged forty-four years. He was twice married, first to Miss Buell and afterwards to Miss Elizabeth Crane. There is no account of the separate issue of these marriages, but by both there were children: Josiah; Susan, wife of John Patton; Mary, died in 1818, aged seventy-three, was the wife of James McClure; Martha, born in 1747, wife of Capt. Lazarus Stewart; George, died in April, 1814, in Luzerne county; Priscilla, born in 1753; Robert, in 1755, and Samuel, in 1757.”

Source: Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pa.

He bought land from the proprietors in Hanover Twp., 25 May 1745.  He was a highly respected man, who besides farming operated a smith shop.  By the time of his death, he was one of the wealthiest men of the area.  He left considerable property of which two shares went to son Josiah.

A correction made by Jim Atchison:

Further if the documentation and church records are to be believed Josiah married Elizabeth after the death of Miss Buell. Their marriage occurred in 1740 Hanover, Pa. If that's true, then 9 of the children of Josiah are children of Josiah and Elizabeth Crain. Additionally after the death of Josiah in 1762 Elizabeth goes on to marry Robert Ewing.

Notes for ELIZABETH:

She was the widow Crain.

Children of JOSIAH ESPY and ELIZABETH are:

   i.    JOSIAH ESPY, b. March 10, 1741/42; d. Bet. July 22 - 26, 1813; m. ANNA KIRKPATRICK, July 08, 1769; b. January 11, 1749/50; d. Abt. May 31, 1842.

Notes for JOSIAH ESPY:

Josiah Espy born March 10, 1742, in Hanover, then Lancaster, now Lebanon county, Pa., where he was reared and educated. His chief occupation was farming, at which he spent most of his life in Dauphin county. Mr. Espy was married, July 8, 1769, to Miss Ann, daughter of William and Margaret Kirkpatrick. They had these children: Margaret, died September 4, 1851, was the wife of Samuel Elder; Priscilla, died September 29, 1845, wife of Robert McClure; Josiah, died April 13,1811; William; James Snodgrass, died September 21, 1872, in Harrisburg, where he was one of the leading merchants; Dr. John E., died April 26, 1831, at Harrisburg, where he was it prominent physician.

Josiah was in the PA. State Legislature in 1806-1808. 

Served under Capt. Richard McQuon, Col. William Green's Battalion in the Rev. War.

Burial: Old Paxtang.

                ii.      SUSANNA ESPY, b. 1743; m. John Patton.

               iii.     MARY ESPY, b. 1745, Hanover Twp, Lancaster Co., PA; d. 1818, Columbia Co., PA; m. JAMES MCCLURE, December 23, 1760; b. 1733, Paxtang Twp., PA; d. November 14, 1805, McClure's Fort, Columbia Co., PA.

About JAMES MCCLURE:

Fort McClure was the home of James McClure along the North Branch about a mile above the mouth of Fishing Creek. In late 1778, a company of militia from Lancaster was posted to Fishing Creek and stayed at the McClure house. Lieutenant VanCampen, their officer for a time, stockaded the home and stored supplies there for his scouting operations. This Fort, however, was not regularly garrisoned and apparently was never attacked during the War.

James McClure was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a resident of that part of Lancaster county then known as the Paxton district.  He was connected, by marriage, with Captain Lazarus Stewart, and with GEORGE ESPY, the proprietor of Espytown.

 It cannot be definitely determined whether he took an active part in those exploits, which have made the "Paxton Rangers" such conspicuous characters in the colonial border annals.  That he was in active sympathy with his brother-in-law, Captain Stewart, when the latter espoused the defense of the Connecticut colony at Wyoming, seems evident from certain statements in a letter from Fort Augusta, by the military representative of the Penns, from which it appears, that, on Wednesday, May 10, 1769, James McClure, with several others, was encamped at the mouth of Fishing creek, en route for Wyoming. It is not further stated whether he reached Wyoming or not; but it seems probable that, for political reasons, his residence in Lancaster county was no longer agreeable, and that when a number of families from Paxton removed to Hanover township, in Wyoming, he went no farther than the mouth of Fishing creek, still, however, within the nominal boundaries of the "Town of Westmoreland." The tract upon which he located was surveyed in June 1769, for Francis Stewart, who conferred upon it the name of "Beauchamp." It was patented for Mr. McClure, in 1772, under the name of "McClure's Choice," and here, in a rude log cabin, James McClure, Jr., was born, in 1774, this being the first birth of a white child within the forks of the Susquehanna.

The McClure’s were not the only settlers in this part of Wyoming township but the death of James McClure, Sr., deprived it of one of those most capable of acting in its defense. In abetting the schemes of Lazarus Stewart, the apparent disloyalty to his state was a vigorous, but palliative, remonstrance against the vacillation of the authorities in providing for the defense of Paxton.

With the assistance of friends, Lazarus Stewart’s wife Martha collected her household goods upon a raft supported by two canoes, and thus descended the Susquehanna with her family. Alarmed by her story of danger and desolation, her sister Mary McClure collected her family and embarked in a similar craft. They reached Lancaster county in safety, and remained until the close of the war permitted a return to their respective homes. In the meantime Fort McClure was built, consisting of a row of palisades around her house, for the double purpose of protecting it and affording a safe retreat for the neighbors in case of emergency. It is probable that during Mrs. McClure's absence it was occupied by Major Moses Van Campen, who had married her daughter.

Source: Unknown

                 iv.    MARTHA ESPY, b. January 12, 1746/47; m. LAZARUS STEWART; b. July 04, 1734, Hanover Twp, Lancaster Co., PA; d. July 03, 1776.

Notes for LAZARUS STEWART:

Born in 1734 in Lancaster Co., PA (now [ in 1885] Dauphin Co.); served in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War; m. Martha Espy.  He was described as being a “fiery and daring Yankee leader of those stirring times.  He was captain of the "Paxton Boys" a group of Pennsylvania frontiersmen, many from the town of Paxton, who were angered by the Eastern-dominated colonial Assembly’s unwillingness to help settlers defend themselves against Indian attacks, and took it upon themselves to attack and kill as many unfriendly Indians as they could find. 

He came to Hanover as a settler with forty Lancaster County men late in 1769 or in Feb 1770.

"Capt. Lazarus Stewart, in 1755, raised a company and did valiant service on the frontier as a ranger; the active part he took in Conestoga and Lancaster in the destruction of the murderous and vagabond Indians in 1763, made him a prominent personage in Pennsylvania history during that period.  During the Revolution he was an active partisan and fell at the head of his troops at the Massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1776.  Two days before, was born Martha his youngest child.

On July 4, 1776 while Philadelphia was going wild over the newly declared independence, Martha Espy Stewart, the sorrow-stricken widow, weak in body, but strong in that soul-courage that always conquers, embarked with her children in a frail open boat and floated down the Susquehanna River to Harrisburg, to friends and safety.  After peace came to the land, she with her children returned to their home." 

Source: The Espy-Espey Genealogy Book Vol. 3 p. 2

             v.   GEORGE ESPY, b. 1749; d. April 1814, Luzerne Co., PA; m. MARY STEWART; d. 1820.

Notes for GEORGE ESPY:

March 1775 George's father conveyed to him a tract of land in Northumberland Co., PA., where George then moved he came to Hanover prior to 1778; lived on the Middle Road back of Nanticoke  He was a stonemason and built the old stone jail on East Market St., Wilkes-Barre.  He was commissioned May 31, 1800 a Justice of the Peace of the districts of Hanover and Wilkes-Barre, which office he was holding at the time of his death.  He was an Elder in the first Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre.

Serving in the Revolution he received a commission of 2nd Lt. Under Capt Robert Crawford, Col. Samuel Hunter's Battalion of Northumberland Co.

            vi.   JOHN ESPY, b. 1751.

           vii.   SAMUEL ESPY, b. Bet. 1753 - 1757; m. MARTHA CHAMBERS, Bet. November 06 - 16, 1778, Philadelphia, PA.

Notes for SAMUEL ESPY:

During the Rev. War Samuel served under Capt. Richard McQuown's Co., Col. Timothy Green's Battalion of Lancaster, Co., and was in the Jersey campaign.

          viii.   ROBERT ESPY, b. 1755.

            ix.   PRISCILLA ESPY, b. Bet. 1753 - 1757; d. 1821; m. (1) JAMES STEWART; m. (2) CAPT. ANDREW LEE; b. 1739; d. 1821.

Notes for CAPT. ANDREW LEE:

Andrew Lee was born in 1739 in Lancaster County, PA (now Dauphin); was one of the "Paxton Boys" who came with Capt. Lazarus Stewart to Wyoming valley in February, 1770; served as a captain of dragoons during the Revolutionary War and was noted for his services as a partisan officer; was taken prisoner by the British and confined in a hulk in New York harbor; returned to Lancaster County after the peace of 1783; m. Priscilla Espy widow of James Stewart, brother of Capt. Lazarus Stewart; moved to Harrisburg, and in 1804 moved to Hanover; resided on the river bank at the mouth of Nanticoke Creek, a half-mile above Nanticoke Falls; d. 1821 in Hanover.

7.  JOHN ESPY (JOSIAH3, HUGH2, GEORGE1) was born 1704.  He married JEAN MOREHEAD34.  She was born Abt. 1704.

Child of JOHN ESPY and JEAN MOREHEAD is:

         16. i.  HUGH ESPY, b. Abt. 1735.