BIO: JOHN SOURS, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 510-512 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ JOHN SOURS, a worthy descendant of one of the oldest pioneers of Cumberland county, was born Sept. 23, 1828, on his present farm, which was purchased in the latter part of the eighteenth century by his grandfather, John Sours, Sr. He is a great-grandson of Adam Sours, or Sears, as the name was originally written. Adam Sears came from Germany probably between 1745 and 1750, and located in York county, Pa., remaining there, however, but a few years. His wife's name is not known, nor the date of their marriage, or whether it occurred before or after coming to America. They had three children, John, Katie and Paul. Adam Sears (or Sours, as he was called in this country) was a molder by trade, as were both his sons, and during the Revolutionary war he and his son Paul were kept busy making shot and shell at a furnace called Mary Ann, in Maryland. At this time the son Paul was about eighteen or nineteen years old. The site of the furnace was afterward occupied by the State Arsenal, and was a beautiful place. The son John (mentioned below), married Elizabeth Bush. Katie married William Mullen, and died in Dickinson township, about four CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 511 miles from Bendersville. Paul married Magdalene Trone, of Hanover, York county, Pa., and resided on a farm of 400 acres, about two miles from Bendersville, Adams county, Pa. In their family were ten children: John, Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Thomas and Paul, and Katharine, Mary, Sally and Betsy. Adam Sours, son of Paul Sours, and grandson of Adam Sears, married Mary Dickson, daughter of John and Margaret Dickson, of Dickinson township, Cumberland county, Pa. John Dickson was of Scotch-Irish descent. His wife, Margaret Hazlett, came from Belfast, Ireland. They were Presbyterians. John Dickson entered 300 acres of land, partly in Dickinson township, Cumberland county, and partly in Huntington township, Adams county, Pa. They were two or three times driven from the farm by the Indians, and fled to a stone church at Hunterstown, Adams county, for safety. They were regular attendants at that church and rode there on horseback, twelve miles. John Dickson died at his home on the farm in 1821, Mrs. Dickson surviving him several years. To Adam and Mary (Dickson) Sours were born nine children: Margaret was born March 11, 1808, in Menallen township, about two miles from where Bendersville now stands; Jacob was born at the same place, April 28, 1810, and died when twelve years and three months old; Paul was born Feb. 7, 1812, in Huntington township, Adams county, Pa., on the old farm about a mile from Idaville; Magdalene (Lena) was born June 12, 1813; John Dickson was born Feb. 23, 1815; Adam, June 30, 1816; William, Feb. 27, 1818; Samuel, July 4, 1820; Jacob (2) Sept. 16, 1823. Of these children two are still living: Adam, of Findlay, Ohio, who married Mary Ashbaugh, and who is now in his eighty-ninth year; and John D., of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. Rev. John Dickson Sours is believed to be the oldest born Sours now living. Though almost ninety he still retains a clear memory, is a man remarkably well preserved for his years, and he read without glasses up to within the last two or three years. Until the last few weeks he has spent a great deal of his time in reading and in writing letters, but of late failing sight has made this difficult for him. He walks five squares to the postoffice nearly every day if the weather is not too bad, and the same distance to church once and sometimes twice on Sundays. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since March 1, 1837, and a local preacher in that denomination since the summer of 1884. Besides attending to his work in that capacity he was for many years actively engaged in school teaching, and his stories of the life of a Methodist preacher in those early days of long circuits and saddle-bags, and of the old schoolhouses, are very interesting. Politically, he is a Prohibitionist, and voted for Dr. Swallow for president of the United States. He married Anna Mary Mears, Sept. 11, 1856, and they had six children: Mary Anna, born July 16, 1857 (died May 4, 1865); John Dickson, Sept. 3, 1861 (died April 22, 1865); Sadie Magdalene, March 19, 1869 (died Nov. 25, 1879); and Margaret Emma, Benjamin Franklin Moers, and Laura Myrtle, who with their parents, live at Mechanicsburg. John Sours, Sr., son of Adam, located in Pine Grove township, remaining there until 1791, when he bought the old Butler farm of 230 acres in Dickinson township, whither he removed his family, and where he died in 1820. He, however, remained 512 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. at Pine Grove, engaged as a molder, till shortly before his death. John Sours, Sr., married Elizabeth Bush, who bore him the following children: George, Elizabeth, Katie, Hannah, Samuel, Sarah, Ellen and Nancy. Samuel Sours, son of John, Sr., was born Feb. 28, 1790. He attended school in Dickinson township, and followed farming as an occupation. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. On Jan. 21, 1824, he married Sarah Spangler, daughter of John and Katie Spangler, and they became the parents of ten children: Mary, who married Jacob Mumau and died in Dickinson township; Rebecca, who died in South Middleton township; John; George, who died in Illinois; William, of Dauphin county, Pa.; Elizabeth, deceased; Martha, deceased; David, who was a soldier in the Civil war, was mustered out in July; 1865, and died in Dickinson township July 31, ten days after reaching home; Charles, of Carlisle; and an infant who died when twenty-four hours old. Samuel Sours, the father, died Sept. 17, 1858, aged sixty-eight years, six months, seventeen days; and his wife died March 21, 1889, aged eighty-six years, five months, twelve days. John Sours, son of Samuel, is engaged in the cultivation of the old homestead. He has 104 acres of good land, which he has greatly improved since it came into his possession, having erected all new buildings. Mr. Sours is noted for his remarkable memory of events in local history, being able to give almost the exact day when any important event in the locality occurred. He has long been a worker in the Methodist Church, as was also his wife. His political faith is that of the Democrats. On March 6, 1862, he married Agnes Caroline Donaldson, daughter of Robert and Jane (Huston) Donaldson, the former of whom died Feb. 12, 1867, aged eighty-seven years, and the latter July 30, 1872, aged eighty-eight years. After forty-one years of married life Mrs. Sours died March 6, 1903. She was born Aug. 31, 1827, and came to Dickinson township with her parents in 1830. She grew to noble womanhood in the neighborhood where she last lived, and was greatly beloved by all who knew her.