OBIT: Martha J. (HARBISON) GNAGEY, 1942, of interest in Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
________________________________________________

MARTHA J. GNAGEY

The Passing of a Noble Descendant of a Victim of an Indian Massacre

  Mrs. Martha J. Gnagey, wife of Charles Edward Gnagey, died at her home, 351 
Locust Avenue, Washington, Pa., Feb. 17, 1942, after an illness beginning soon 
after last Christmas.  She was born March 31, 1878, at Canonsburg, Pa., a 
daughter of the late Adam and Anna Wiley Harbison of Canonsburg.  She resided 
there until she and her husband were united in marriage March 6, 1901.  After 
that she was a resident of Washington until the end of her earthly pilgrimage.
  Surviving are her husband, Charles Edward Gnagey; a daughter, Elizabeth, wife 
of Lyle Stranahan, of Spartansburg; a son, Wiley Gnagey, of Washington, R.D.1, 
and three grandchildren.
  Funeral services were held in Washington at 2 o'clock, in charge of her 
pastor, the Rev. Samuel W. Shane.  Burial was in the Oak Springs Cemetery, 
Canonsburg.
  Mrs. Gnagey was a charter member of Washington Chapter, Order of Eastern Star, 
and a member of the Second United Presbyterian Church of Washington and its 
affiliated organizations.  In past years she was very active in affairs of her 
church.
  Mrs. Gnagey was a great granddaughter of Mrs. Masa Harbison, who was captured 
by and escaped from the Indians who killed two of her children, and naturally 
took considerable pride in being a descendant of Mrs. Harbison, who was captured 
in a massacre at Freeport.  The Indians killed a child about two years of age, 
and then made Mrs. Harbison accompany them, taking along her baby and nine-year-
old son.  In crossing the river the boy fell off the horse and was murdered 
before his mother's eyes.  A few days later Mrs. Harbison escaped near Butler, 
and carrying her baby wandered in the forest for seven or eight days until she 
reached the river a few miles from Pittsburgh.  The baby which she carried, John 
Harbison, lived to the age of 83 years.
  At Pittsburgh she was united with her husband, a government employee of that 
time.  Later other children were born, including Martha Harbison, who married a 
Wiley, and became the grandmother of Mrs. Gnagey.  Her daughter, Mrs. Anna Wiley 
Harbison, was Mrs. Gnagey's mother.
  The bereaved husband of Mrs. Gnagey is a native of Grantsville, Md., and the 
eldest son of the late John E. and Elizabeth Swauger Gnagey.  He has many 
relatives in Grantsville, Md., and vicinity, Salisbury, Pa., and vicinity and in 
numerous other places and states where there are readers and patrons of The 
Republican.

Meyersdale Republican, February 26, 1942