ii.
It seems that most people researching
Peter Patterson Dauhpin (then Lancaster) Co., PA and of of
Washington (later Jefferson) Twp., Fayette Co., PA, found the
following two sources, and it seems that they assumed that the Peter
Patterson mentioned in each of these two sources was the same
man. This cannot be the case, as this paper will prove.
Franklin Ellis, in History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania
(Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1882, p. 617)
writes:
“Before the close of the Revolution four brothers, named Robert,
James, William, and Peter Patterson, moved from Dauphin County to
Fayette County, where they proposed to found new homes. Robert
settled in Westmoreland County and the others in Fayette, Peter and
William in Jefferson township [originally part of
Washington Twp.], and James in Franklin. The
brothers came westward in company, and with their families traveled
and carried their effects on backs of horses…Peter Patterson
patented the land now owned by Emma Cope, near Redstone post-office,
and lived there until his death at the age of more than ninety. He
had a large family, but of the sons only Thomas made his home in the
township after reaching man’s
estate.”
This Peter Paterson about whom Ellis writes is definitely
Peter Patterson who settled in Washington Twp., Fayette Co., PA--
father of Mary “Polly” Patterson, who married George Espy (from whom
several D.A.R. lineages descend). This Peter, who “moved from
Dauphin County to Fayette County” is the subject of this
paper.
Another source, (D.A.R. American Monthly Magazine, Vol.
30 published 1906 and dated January-June, 1907; p. 439)
concerns a Peter Patterson and his brothers William, James and
Robert. The following piece was in the “Genealogical Notes and
Queries” section of the D.A.R. magazine:
“942. LYTLE—The Rev.
services of Capt. John Lytle can be found in the Penn. Archives,
Vol. XIV. [*] He died a bachelor. His brother was the ancestor of
the Gen. Lytle who wrote “I am dying, Egypt, dying.” One of his
sisters, Eleanor, married Peter Patterson who came to America about
1732 and lived in Paxtang township, Lancaster [later Dauphin] Co.,
Penn. He was exempt from military service because of
infirmities of age. His sons William, Peter, James and Robert were
soldiers in the Rev. War. The children of Peter and Eleanor (Lytle)
Patterson were: Peter, Jr., married Ann Montgomery; Eleanor married
Matthew Brown; William m. Mary McCormack [sic];
*The author of this piece did not list
a PA Archives Series number or page number, so we searched “Vol.
XIV” (it turned out to be Series 2) of the Pennsylvania Archives and
found two entries: one for a “John Lytle” and one for a “John
Little.” On p. 432 we found a muster roll showing that on
April 27, 1779, a John LYTLE was a private (not a captain!) in
Col. Wm. Chamber’s Battalion, Capt. Patton’s Company, “in
service on the Frontiers of Bedford and Westmoreland counties in the
spring and summer of 1779.” There were only 17 privates in
this company: one was John Lytle and one was a William Patterson
(not identified by me). This John Lytle is a private,
however--not the “captain” referred to in the above article. On p.
653 of Vol. XIV we do find a “Captain John Little.” Captain Little
is listed on a muster roll of the Third Battalion, Seventh Company
of the Bedford Militia on December 10,
1777.
iii.
James m. Mary Stewart;
Elizabeth m. Josiah Espy; Robert m. Eleanor
Porter;
Jane m. William
Montgomery. Matthew Brown, who married June 21, 1760, Eleanor
Patterson was b. July 15,
1732, lived in Lancaster Co., Pa., d. Apr. 22, 1777, and his will is
recorded in Sunbury [Northumberland Co.]. He settled near
Carlisle and went in 1774 to Northumberland Co. He was the
father of a large family. He was a
Rev.
soldier and a member of the
Committee of Safety (not in Conn.), but in Penn. He and his wife
Eleanor are buried in Union Co., Penn. John Lytle left all his
land to Eleanor (Lytle*) [sic] Brown, as all the other relatives had
moved west. Another sister of John Lytle married Humphrey Fullerton
and their descendants are still living in Ohio. Josiah Espy, Jr., in
his journal of a trip through Ohio speaks of his cousins, Mr. and
Mrs. Humphrey Fullerton, and Mrs. Morehead, in her little
memoir of Prof. James Espy, speaks of their cousins, Matthew and
Alexander Brown of Canonsburg College, Penn.—F.M.E.” [“F.M.E.” has
been identified by us as Florence Mercy
Espy]
Because virtually ALL of the “internet” information, to date,
assumes that the statements in the above-transcribed D.A.R. magazine
piece are true, I think it necessary here to analyze its statements,
one by one, to show how they cannot stand up against serious
scrutiny. We can then put aside the muddled information in
this piece and get on with the verfifiable facts of the life of
Peter Patterson of Paxtang Twp., Lancaster (later Dauphin) Co., PA
and of Washington (later Jefferson) Twp., Fayette Co.,
PA.
I received a copy of this D.A.R. magazine “article” from the D.A.R.
library in Washington D.C. I thought it important to see
the original “article” for myself, as it is the one and only source
cited (if sources are cited at all) in the many internet “trees”
involving Peter Patterson whose daughter Mary married George Espy
(i.e. “our” Peter, the subject of this paper).
I learned that the above quoted piece is NOT an “article” in the
D.A.R. magazine. It is merely an undocumented submission from
a reader, Florence Mercy Espy. Ms. Espy had read, in an
earlier issue of the magazine, Query #942 (Vol. 30, p.
257) and evidently had felt impelled to provide an “Answer.”
The transcribed piece above was her “answer” to this “query” which
I’ve transcribed in full below:
“942. LYTLE. – I wish to learn the war record of John Lytle of
Penn. He is called in family history ‘Captain John Lytle who helped
to defend Fort Augusta.’ His daughter, Eleanor Lytle, married
Matthew Brown, a member of the Committee of Safety in Conn. He also
served in the Rev. War and died of fever contracted in service. His
widow Augusta and eight children were among those who sent to Fort
Augusta for protection in what was known as the ‘big runaway of
1778.’ Capt. John Lytle deeded a tract of land in White Deer
Valley to his widowed daughter Eleanor and her children. Any items
connected with John Lytle will be appreciated. –
H.P.B.”
Ms. Espy’s response to H.P.B.’s query
must have had H.P.B. scratching his head
* "Eleanor (Lytle) Brown” makes no
sense. If it is Capt. John Lytle’s sister Eleanor to whom the
author is referring, then she allegedly married Peter Patterson, so
she would be “Eleanor (Lytle) PATTERSON. If it is Capt John Lytle’s
niece to whom the author is referring (Eleanor, dau. of Peter &
Eleanor Patterson), then she would be “Eleanor (PATTERSON) Brown.”
iv.
in confusion. Her first sentence
sends him to the PA Archives without a Series number—just a volume
number. Then, in her next statement, she writes that Capt. John
Lytle “died a bachelor” (offering no proof of this) when H.P.B. had
written that Capt. John had eight children! She writes of a
sister of Capt. John Lytle, Eleanor Lytle, who m. Peter Patterson of
Paxtang Twp., though H.P.B. had written of an Eleanor Lytle who was
the daughter of Capt. John Lytle. H.P.B. had written that is
was Capt. John Lytle’s daughter, Eleanor Lytle, who m. Matthew
Brown; Ms. Espy asserts, in her response, that Peter and Eleanor
(Lytle) Patterson had a daughter named Eleanor, and that it was this
Eleanor Patterson who m. Matthew Brown. However, later in Ms.
Espy’s response she refers to this same woman, wife of Matthew
Brown, as “Eleanor (Lytle) Brown. Thus in the space
of a few sentences Ms. Espy manages to contradict herself. I
believe this Eleanor Lytle/Eleanor Patterson confusion is why half
of the trees on the internet dealing with Matthew Brown have him
marrying a Patterson while the other half have him marrying a
Lytle.
Okay—so much for Ms. Espy confusing H.P.B. and Lytle
researchers. Let’s now discuss how she also may have confused
Patterson researchers. Let’s put aside, for now, her assertion
that there was a Peter Patterson Sr. in Paxtang who was old enough
to have had the four sons, including “our” Peter, who were all
Revolutionary soldiers. This we will disprove gradually during the
course of this paper. Instead, now, let us examine her several
assertions regarding the various spouses of the Patterson children
of this Peter “Sr.” of Paxtang:
1.
She wrote that Peter Patterson “Jr.” married Ann Montgomery. I
have not found the record of any marriage of a Peter Patterson to an
Ann Montgomery, but it’s worth noting that researcher Andrew
Fountain shows, on her ancestry.com tree, a Peter Patterson who m.
Ann Montgomery and had a daughter Agnes who was b. 1747. If
Ms. Fountain is correct, then we believe the Peter Patterson of her
tree to be Peter Patterson of Drumore whose will (proved
1786) lists an unnamed daughter whom I know to be named Agnes
(baptized 2 Oct 1751 by Rev. John Cuthbertson—see source
below), and whom I know married John Robert Kirkpatrick 24 Mar
1774 in “Drummore” (Marriages of Alexander Dobbin [Covenanter
minister who arrived in America in 1774 to assist the aging Rev.
Cuthbertson who, arrving 1751, was the first Covenanter minister on
American soil])
2.
She wrote that Eleanor Patterson married Matthew Brown 21 June 1760.
According to the marriage records of Rev. John Cuthbertson
(“Register of Marriages and Baptisms Performed by Rev. John
Cuthbertson 1751-1791” ed. by S. Helen Fields, originally published
1934 in Washington, D.C. and reprinted 2001 by Heritage Books,
Bowie, MD) on 27 Jan 1761 “Math. Brown” married “Eleanor
McCormick” at the Paxtang meeting house. Could there
have been two marriages, within six months of each other, both in
Paxtang, and both involving a Matthew Brown marrying an
Eleanor? I think not. I believe it possible that
somewhere a Matthew Brown did indeed marry an Eleanor, but it wasn’t
in Paxtang, and therefore is not connected with the Patterson line
from which “our” Peter descends and which is the focus of this
paper.
v.
3.
She wrote that William Patterson married Mary “McCormack.” This is
true. (Marriage records of Rev. John Cuthbertson—source cited
above) However, the William who m. Mary McCormick was
“our” Peter’s brother (as will be proved proved in the following
paper); and the brothers of this William who m. Mary Montgomery
(James, Peter and Robert) did NOT marry the spouses of the James,
Peter and Robert listed by Ms. Espy in this D.A.R. magazine article
piece.
4.
She wrote that James Patterson married Mary Stewart. There is
record of a James Patterson marrying a Mary Stewart—but this was in
about 1735, and this James was the son of the James Patterson of
Conestoga Manor—the Indian trader who was one of the first
inhabitants of Lancaster County. (James Patterson and
His Descendants by Edmund Bell & Mary Colwell. Lancaster,
PA: Wickersham Printing Co., 1925) I must note here that “our”
Peter’s brother, Robert, married Mary Stewart (see Robert’s
chapter); could Ms. Espy have been looking at a column of names and
spouses and mixed them up? (More of this theory
below.)
5.
She wrote that Elizabeth Patterson married Josiah Espy. In
1905, about the time Ms. Espy wrote the response published in the
D.A.R. magazine, which response we are currently scrutinizing, she
published a book on her Espy family. (History and Genealogy
of the Espy Family in America by Florence Mercy Espy; Fort
Madison, Iowa, 1905) On p. 24 of this book she cites the
marriage of Josiah Espy, b. 1727 (son of George Espy and Jean
Taylor) to Elizabeth Patterson, “daughter of Peter Patterson, Sr.,
of Upper Paxtang Township, in 1758…” This is the same
information she provides in the D.A.R. magazine piece that we are
currently examining (which information we believe to be mostly
false). However, in her book she provides new information:
that Elizabeth’s husband, Josiah Espy, was born 1727. This
suggests that this Elizabeth Patterson might also have been born in
the 1720’s—in which case she would indeed be of the same generation
as “our” Peter, the subject of this paper. I think it possible
that Josiah Espy married an Elizabeth Patterson (though I have not
personally seen a record of their marriage, and though Florence Espy
NOWHERE in her book cites sources for her information*), but was
this Elizabeth Patterson “our” Peter’s sister? I think not,
though I believe she could well have been “our” Peter’s
cousin. (More of this in the “Who Was Peter’s Father?” chapter
of this paper.)
6.
She wrote that Robert Patterson married Eleanor Porter.
Well. Remember my theory that perhaps Ms. Espy was looking at
a column of grooms and brides and perhaps lost her place?
Consider this record of a marriage performed by Rev. Alexander
Dobbin, one of the two Covenanter ministers who came to America in
1774 to assist Rev. Cuthbertson: On 19 Sept 1797 William
Patterson married “Elenor” Porter in Hamilton’s Barn [sic—should be
Hamilton’s “Bann,” which
*Florence Mercy Espy wrote in the
introduction to her book: “There will be no attempt made to tell the
number of books of refernce read in gathering this information as
recording the names became an irksome task almost at the
outset.” In other words, she did not document her
information.
vi.
was in
present-day Adams Co., PA] (This info found online
at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~treasures/pa/adams/alexdobbinmarr.htm)
We need to mention here
that in D.A.R. Lineage Book Vol. 38, p. 98 is the marriage of Robert
Patterson to Eleanor Porter, and this Robert Patterson is said to
have been b. 1746 in Lancaster Co. and to have died 1790 in
Westmoreland Co.** The only Robert Patterson whom records prove to
have settled early in Westmoreland County (and about whom
Franklin Ellis, in his History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania
correctly wrote) is the Robert Patterson who was “our” Peter’s
brother, and who married Mary Stewart. (See Robert’s chapter in this
paper.) Where did the D.A.R. member get her information that
her Revolutionary War ancestor was a Robert Patterson who married
Eleanor Porter and who settled in Westmoreland County? Sadly,
we believe this information traceable to the “research” of Florence
Mercy Espy. I say this because the D.A.R. member claiming this
Robert Patterson who m. Eleanor Porter as her ancestor was Mrs. Ruth
Hamilton Everingham of Fort Madison, Iowa (member #37272).
Guess where Florence Mercy Espy lived? Yep, you guessed
it—Fort Madison, Iowa. If I were the person at the D.A.R. in
charge of whether or not to put a “flag” on the veracity of certain
lineages, I would certainly raise questions about the credibility of
any claims to membership, submitted in the early 1900’s, from women
living in Fort Madison, Iowa, should their lineages involve the
surnames Patterson, Lytle, Porter, Montgomery, Brown and
McCormick.
7.
Finally, she wrote that Jane Patterson married William Montgomery. I
have record of a Hannah Jane Patterson who was born about 1736 in
Drumore Twp., Lancaster Co., marrying William Montgomery. This
is accepted as true in all Montgomery research posted on the
internet; additionally, however, I have in my possession a copy of a
letter written 15 Feb 1911 by Thornton S. Dilworth of Table Grove,
IL--a direct descendant of William and Hannah Jane (Patterson)
Montgomery. Mr. Dilworwth’s letter corroborates that Hannah
Patterson of Drumore Twp., Lancaster Co. married William Montgomery
(no date of marriage in his letter). If this marriage of
William Montgomery to Hannah Jane Patterson of Drumore Twp.,
Lancaster Co. is the marriage to which Ms. Espy refers in the
magazine piece we’re examining, then, once again, Ms. Espy seems to
have picked up a member of yet another Patterson branch,
and has grafted this branch onto the (different) Paxtang line of
Pattersons. I say this because the Hannah Jane Patterson who
was born in Drumore Twp. and who married William Montgomery was
daughter of a James Patterson (1708-1791) of Little Britain Twp.,
Lancaster Co., whose line is well documented and whose line does NOT
connect (directly, anyway) with that of “our” Peter. I must
mention, however, that the Jane Patterson of whom
**Patterson & Patterson
Family, Vol 2, p. 74, contains a “transcription” of this “D.A.R.
Lineage #37272. Curiously, this “transcription” shows that
Robert Patterson b. 1746 in Lancaster Co., PA; m. Eleanor Porter;
“died 1790 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The submitter of this
“transcription” may have found that this Robert died in VA rather
than in Westmoreland Co., PA, but should not have inferred that this
info was contained in D.A.R. Lineage #37272; it was
not.
vii.
Ms. Espy writes might also be the different Jane Patterson said by
numerous Montgomery researchers to have married a different William
Montgomery abt.1750 in Virginia* (After all, Ms. Espy was
responding to a request for information about a Capt. John
Lytle who was stationed in Augusta Co., VA.). This might be the Jane
Patterson of whom Ms. Espy wrote.
Note that in the D.A.R. magazine piece,
Ms. Espy does not claim that Peter Patterson “Sr.” had a daughter
named Mary. The one sister of “our” Peter about whom we are
certain of our facts is Mary, who married Elijah Stewart. (See
Mary’s chapter). This is another reason why the Peter “Jr.” of
whom Ms. Espy writes simply cannot be the Peter who is the subject
of this paper. There is record of only one Peter of Paxtang,
and he is “ours”; he had a sister named Mary and his brothers (with
one exception) did not marry the women cited above by Ms. Espy. The
Peter of Ms. Espy’s paper cannot be of Paxtang.
How much, if any, of what Ms. Espy
wrote in this D.A.R. magazine piece is actually true, I cannot
say. Perhaps somewhere there was a Peter Patterson who had the
children listed by Ms. Espy in the D.A.R. magazine piece. But it
wasn’t in Paxtang.
I recommend that any Patterson
researcher including any of the above-cited information written by
Ms. Espy should immediately strike this information from their
files.
In passing, in addition to the two
sources of information cited at the beginning of this Introduction,
it should be noted that a third source refers to the same four
Patterson brothers cited by Ellis. This third source is William
Henry Egle’s Notes and Queries, Third Series, Volume II, CL,
p. 406. Egle was (and is) the acknowledged authority on
the history and early families of Pennsylvania, particularly
Lancaster County:
“Prior to the close of the Revolution, Robert, James, William and
Peter Patterson, brothers, removed to Western Pennsylvania. Robert
settled in Westmoreland county and the others in what is now Fayette
county. James Patterson was a captain in the war of 1812 under
General Harrison. What is known concerning the ancestry of these
Pattersons?”
Notes and Queries
was originally published between 1879 and 1895 as a series of
newspaper columns in the Harrisburg, PA Daily
Telegraph. These columns have been re-printed and now
comprise twelve volumes. (I’ve cited information from these volumes
throughout this paper.) The passage above was written at about the
same time that Ellis’ History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania
was published (1882) and it is therefore impossible to know if
one author read the work of the other, or if each independently of
the other concerned himself with the “four Patterson
brothers.” At any rate, a close inspection of Egle’s passage
reveals that Egle infers that the James who was a Captain in the War
of 1812 was one of the four Patterson brothers. This is most surely
an error, as the brother James who crossed the mountains sometime
“prior the close of the Revolution” would probably have been too old
to serve in the War of 1812. Ellis, in
his
*Because several of these Patterson marriages
listed by Ms. Espy might might actually involve Pattersons of
Virginia, rather than of Paxtang, future researchers may want to
investigate Pattersons living in the area of Rockbridge, VA
in the 1750’s, to see if they can find four Patterson brothers of
the names William, Peter, James & Robert who married (some of?)
the women cited by Ms. Espy.
viii.
book, states that the James who was a captain
in the War of 1812 was the son of William—the William who was “our”
Peter’s brother. Ellis is correct. (See William’s
chapter.)
Finally, before we begin the paper about the facts of “our” Peter’s
life, I would like to present a list of errors committed by
researchers investigating “our” Peter’s line.
·
I obtained (from the DAR library in Washington, D.C.) a copy of the
DAR magazine piece transcribed above. In this article, Peter “Sr.”
is clearly said to have married ELEANOR Lytle. Yet, in every single
internet “tree” I’ve ever seen, this old Peter’s wife is listed as
ELIZABETH Lytle. These trees list as their source for this
information the exact same DAR magazine article of which we have a
copy and which we have transcribed above in full, yet not
one of them correctly names this Peter’s wife as stated in
the article they cite. It seems probable that
one person made a transcription error, or a typo, many years ago; it
got posted on the internet, and dozens have since copied the wrong
information. Bad information gets multiplied exponentially via the
internet!
·
Egle’s little goof about Captain James Patterson (of the War of
1812) being one of the four Patterson brothers also seems to have
been duplicated over the years; on many trees posted on the internet
one can see this information ascribed to the wrong James. Bad
information gets multiplied exponentially over the
internet!
·
Regarding Captain James, the error cited above got complicated with
a further error. There WAS in fact an older “Captain” James,
living in Juniata Co., who married Mary Stewart. He was a captain,
all right-- in the French and Indian Wars! Some Patterson
researchers seem to have taken the error above and then compounded
it, making the leap that the James who was a Captain and who married
Mary Stewart was one of the four Patterson brothers, i.e. our
Peter’s brother. And numerous internet researchers have copied
this wrong information.
·
On various internet trees of this line one sees that Mary Patterson,
alleged daughter of Robert and Eleanor (Porter) Patterson, is said
to have been born 29 March 1768. Hmm. Isn’t it curious
that in the Register of Marriages performed by Rev. John Cuthbertson
(the minister who seems to have attended ALL the Pattersons of “our”
Peter’s line while they were living in Dauphin—then
Lancaster—County) we find that a Mary Patterson married Elijah
Stewart on 29 March 1768. No Patterson birth whatsover for
this date is recorded in Rev. Cuthbertson’s records. Could
someone have mixed up a baptism date for a Mary Patterson with a
marriage date for a different Mary Patterson? We think so. And
numerous internet researchers have copied this
information.
·
Most of what was written about “our” Peter in the Patterson &
Pattison Family publication (four volumes, privately
published in the mid-sixties and now on-line at genealogy.com)
has serious errors. Here are some
examples:
A person by the name
of Vashti Seaman “copied from bound Volume 30, year 1907, page 439
of the ‘American Monthly Magazine’ of the DAR” information which was
then submitted by C.C. Austin to the Patterson/Pattison Assn.
Journal (Vol. 2, p. 67, published in the mid-1960’s).
Vashti Seaman says in his transcription of Vol. 30 p. 439 that
“Peter Patterson came to Pennsylvania
ix.
in Paxtang Twp. then Lancaster Co., but now is
Dauphin County, Pa. He was too old to serve in the Revolution, but
contributed what he could to relieve the suffering of the
army. His wife was Eleanor Lytle. Their children….” His
transcription continues on, faithful to the original regarding the
names and spouses of the children, but… I received a copy of this
exact same page from the American Monthly Magazine from the
DAR Library in Washington D.C., and nowhere is it written that “ he
was too old to serve in the Revolution but contributed what he could
to relieve the suffering of the army.” These words are
nowhere in the source Vashti Seaman purports to be
transcribing; they appear to be either a complete fabrication, or
he/she read these words somewhere else and didn’t cite THAT source.
As a result of this error, subsequent Patterson researchers seem to
have been led to believe that there was a Peter living in Paxtang
old enough to be “our” Peter’s father, a Peter who was was too old
to be a solider in the Revolution. However, this is is not the
case, according to all available records. This information is quoted
on many internet trees and, what’s worse, they cite the D.A.R.
magazine—not this transcription!
In this same transcription by Vashti
Seaman of the DAR magazine article (published in Patterson &
Pattison Assn. Vol. 2 p. 67) he/she writes that “Matthew
Brown was married, June 21, 1760 to above Eleanor Patterson who was
born July 15, 1732, and lived in Lancaster Co., PA.” Again, I
obtained a copy of the DAR magazine article cited by Seaman, and
have transcribed it in its entirety above. A careful reading
will reveal that it was not Eleanor (Patterson) Brown who was “born
July 15, 1732,” but her husband. Bad, very bad
“transcription.” Here are the actual words in the passage
transcribed incorrectly by Vashti Seaman: “Matthew Brown, who
married June 21, 1760, Eleanor Patterson was b. July 15, 1732, lived
in Lancaster Pa….” It was Matthew Brown, not Eleanor, who was
“b. July 15, 1732.” Therefore the only birth date attributed to one
of the alleged siblings of the Peter in this DAR magazine article is
incorrect. What if Eleanor were much younger than her husband,
Matthew Brown? Except for the assumption that Eleanor Patterson was
probably about the same of her husband, whose birth date is given,
there is nothing else in this article which points to these children
of the alleged Peter “Sr.” being born in the 1720’s versus the
1760’s. In other words, there is nothing in this article which
suggests that these children were even of the same generation as
“our” Peter and his brothers.
Vashti Seaman’s incorrect transcriptions
continue, in Patterson & Pattison Assn. Vol 2 p. 68 where
he/she offers a transcription from DAR Lineage Book, Vol. 38, p.
198 and writes that a “Peter Patterson Jr., 1739-1814, served as
a soldier in the Lancaster County, Pa., Militia Wife, Ann
Montgomery…had daughter ‘Polly’…” I also obtained a copy of Vol. 38,
p. 198 from the DAR Library in Washington D.C. and discovered very
serious “transcription” errors: First: Peter’s death date is given
as “1840” on this page, not 1814 as written by Seaman;
Secondly: Peter’s wife is listed as “____ Montgomery,” NOT “Ann
Montgomery” as Mr. Seaman wrote. This incorrect
transcription has invented a death date for Peter (which was wrong
in the first place, but that’s not the point) and has invented
a first name for Peter’s wife. We can only wonder how
many researchers since have copied this wrong information into their
family tree. So, please, remember always to:
• CHECK SOURCES
CITED BY OTHERS WHENEVER
POSSIBLE.
•DO NOT POST
INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET OR PUBLISH MATERIAL THAT IS NOT
POSITIVELY SUBSTANTIATED.
•ALWAYS CITE YOUR
SOURCES.
•PROOFREAD WHAT
YOU POST OR PUBLISH. AT
LEAST TWICE.