Family History: 1846 Letter Some Chester County Residents (McCLENACHAN): PA

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1846 Letter Some Chester County Residents

Chester County, Pennsylvania
August 8th, 1846

Mrs. Jane McClenachan
Madison County, Indiana
Mill Creek Post Office

My dear Janie:--

I received a letter some weeks ago from your brother Robert, by which I was
very much rejoiced to hear that you were yet in the land of the living,
having had no certain account from you these twenty-seven years.  I made
frequent inquiries of travelers to and from Urbana who assured me that there
was no such people in or about there.  Your brother Robert informed me that
you had been a widow for seven years, that you have eight children, six of
them married, living convenient to you, and I hope you all feel happy.  He
also informed me that you wished me to write you a letter, but I handle a
pen so little, to write one of much interest would be a tedious undertaking
but as I would like to converse with you a little while, I will cheerfully
undertake it.  To write one of much history of past events since you left
would be beyond the confines of a single letter, I therefore confine myself
to family & friends.

There are four of my first wife's children living: Elijah, Mary, Samuel, and
Emmy, three of her children dead. Mary married Edward CROOKS in 1825 and has
been a widow thirteen years, with three children, the eldest a woman grown.
Emmy married John MACKEY in 1838, has had three children, two of them dead.
Elijah married Mr. KELTON's youngest daughter in 1839, has had four fine
children.  Samuel married Anna Maria WILSON in 1844, have one son.  They all
are living round about within distance of two miles.

My second wife's children are William, Letty Jane, Sarah, Robert and John
the youngest twenty-one years of age.  Letty and Sarah both died in the
summer of 1842 within seven weeks of each other of consumption, with bright
prospects of another and better world, two lovely girls aged twenty-two and
twenty-four, leaving us without a daughter, desolate and sad.  My wife is
enjoying very delicate health.  Last New Year's evening Robert married Mary
Jane HUDDER, a lovely, agreeable, healthy young woman, and we live together
very comfortably as one family and each others' best interest.  She is a
daughter of John HUDDERS who married some short time before you left this part.

Your uncle ARMSTRONG left the old place many years ago; of late years he
resided in York county with his daughter, Susan.  His corpse was brought to
the Manor grave yard about two years ago, aged 83; his family all dead but
Susan and Steven.

George CORREY's family all dead but two youngest; Mary Anne married a son of
Mrs. MCGRAW's and lives at Havre de Grace in Maryland, and Jane lives with her.

James STRAWBRIDGE's family all dead but James and he don't live on the old place.

Christiano MITCHELL, I believe, is dead; I visited her about seven years ago
at her brother-in-law's; she appeared very frail and destitute; her brother,
James, had been dead for several years; she was sadly disappointed in her
uncle Joseph's estate and aunt Christiano's.

Margaret EDWASTON married Joseph TURNER; she has been dead a length of time;
she has raised a fine family of children, all men and women in respectibility, 
and but one daughter married; she frequently inquires about you to this day.

Thomas CHARLTON is still living, but very frail; he is eighty-one years old;
about twenty years ago he married a daughter of James KEARNE's a girl
between seventeen and eighteen, by whom he had a son and a daughter; and she
died and he has remained a widower ever since; his children have grown to
the full stature of men and women.

What a change death has made.  If you were in New London you would scarcely
see a face you had seen before.  Ann Jane FINNEY still lives, but very weak,
can scarcely sit up any; the rest all dead; William's widow takes care of her.

Mathew COCHRAN, son of David COCHRAN, lives near Richmond, Ind., of whom you
must have some rememberance.  A nephew of Thomas CROOK's, who married a
daughter of Capt. John HOLMES, lives near the same place.  Those who had any
slight acquaintance in former days, would be pleased to see others in
distant lands.

The church, shortly after you left these parts, the congregation of New
London put in a call for Mr. GRAHAM; he accepted and remained our pastor to
November 1835, when he died, being our pastor twenty-five years.  In about a
year after, we called Reverend Robert D. DUBOIS who is our pastor at present. 
In the summer of 1844, we took down the old church and erected a new one, 
much larger and higher, with a lobby and gallery--quite a spacious looking 
house without and within, and all done with the greatest harmony by the people.

And now, my dear niece how is it with you?  Have you approached the gospel
with the means of grace, or are you in a great measure destitute?  I read in
the religious papers of the labors of missionaries in Indiana; don't see
anyone from your country.  I am well aware that in those new countries there
are great diversities of opinions on religious subjects, but hold fast the
form of our words as taught by our Lord Jesus and his apostles, making his
word the [illegible word] of your counsel, resting nothing short of sincere,
heartfelt religion, and you have experienced that saving change, the new
birth, by endeavoring [illegible words] God dearly reflecting on the vast
concerns of the precious soul.  Be constant in prayer, for without prayer
there can be no holiness, and no delight like holding communion with the
Father of our spirits. These things endeavor to impress upon the minds of
your children.  With an earnest desire for your salvation and theirs, I pray
God to give strength and grace for the performance of every duty and
privelege and although we may never see one another in the land of the
living, let our prayers meet at the Throne of Grace day by day for blessings
on each other; then, when we leave this world, we may meet in Heaven, and be
forever happy with the Lord, is the sincere wish of your affectionate uncle.

(Signed) Samuel B. McCLENACHAN

P.S. Your brother, Robert, I understand is on his way now to our county with
a drove of sheep, and expects to be on by the first of next month.

If you should receive these lines, I would be glad if you would send me an
answer, giving some more little history of your ups and downs since you left
us; for trouble and sorrow is the lot of a great part of mankind, and it is
likely that you have had yours; and now you can plead the promise of your
Heavenly Father that He will be a father to the fatherless, and a husband to
the widowed, and those that truly trust the Lord shall not want for any good
thing.  Dear Janie, I would be glad to hear from you and how your children
are doing.  Our Post Office is Jennerville, Chester County, where old Sam
CROSS used to live; now a fine, large brick house on each corner, and
several smaller contiguous.

Brother Elijah died near Cadiz, Ohio; his family lives there still.

We have just another harvest over, and I am yet able to follow the scythe
and cradle in my 72nd year.  I have always enjoyed the best of health, and
liquor has not wet my mouth near twenty years, but my eyesight is much
failed and my hearing.

(Signed) Samuel B. MCCLENACHAN

SOURCES

MCCLENACHAN family file at the Chester County Historical Society, West
Chester, PA