Robert Falconer, Sr. and Eliza Elliott
Husband Robert Falconer, Sr. 1
Born: 22 Dec 1780 - Pitchash, parish of Inveraven, Scotland 1 Christened: Died: 20 Oct 1852 - Sugar Grove, Warren Co, PA 2 Buried:
Father: [Father] Falconer ( - ) Mother:
Marriage:
Other Spouse: Eliza Miller ( - ) 2 - Abt 1823
Wife Eliza Elliott 1
Born: Christened: Died: Bef 1819 Buried:
Children
1 M Robert J. Falconer 2 3
Born: 18 Aug 1809 - Brooklyn, NY 2 Christened: Died: 10 Feb 1876 - Sugar Grove, Warren Co, PA 2 Buried:Spouse: Mary Sill (1810- ) 2 3 Marr: 18 Apr 1836 2
2 M Patrick Falconer 1
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Robert Falconer, Sr.
Robert Falconer was a native of Scotland. For some years prior to the beginning of the War of 1812 he, in partnership with his bachelor brother Patrick, had been engaged in the mercantile business in the city of New York, having also a branch house at Charleston, South Carolina. When the war began, Patrick, whose sympathies for Great Britain were very strong, determined to remain in this "blarsted country" no longer, and, returning to Scotland, continued there until his death. He never married. After the restoration of peace, Robert, having disposed of his business affairs at New York and Charleston, began to look about for a country home for the benefit of his wife, who was in a declining state of health. He had been advised by physicians to find some place where hills or mountains, pine forests, and clear running streams abounded. In some way, probably through his Long Island friend, Abraham D. Ditmars, he heard of this then forlorn, out-of-the-way place, and concluded to make a personal inspection of a region so highly extolled by land agents. Accordingly, he first came here with Ditmars and his family in 1815. The journey was a memorable one. Ditmars started with two good wagons, well loaded, good teams, etc., and reached Chandler's Valley with one horse and the fore wheels of one wagon only. The route followed led through New Jersey to the crossing of the Delaware at Easton, thence to Bellefonte, and on over the mountains to Holman's Ferry on the Allegheny, thence via Titusville and Brokenstraw to Chandler's Valley. It required five weeks to accomplish the journey, and when it was concluded Ditmar's effects, as well as some members of his family, were scattered along the way from Bellefonte westward. They were finally gathered up, after much trouble and expense. Falconer came through with the advance-guard of the party, including Ditmars. Notwithstanding the difficulties encountered in getting here, he seems to have been favorably impressed with the appearance of things, and purchased quite largely of lands in town and country. Man is a strange, perverse animal, to say the least, and his freaks when migrating are quite aptly illustrated in Falconer's case. It does not appear that he came here with any intention of becoming a farmer, but merely to found a home in a retired, wholesome locality. Hence, unless it was his wish to place a great distance between himself and his former haunts, he could have gone up the Hudson River but a few miles, comparatively speaking, and there found hills and mountains, umbrageous forests of pine and hemlock, swiftly-flowing streams of pure, sparkling water; and a region, too, where the health-destroying clouds do not bank upon the ground in the valleys at nightfall, and remain until eight or nine o'clock each morning for seven months in the year. The lands along the Hudson were then equally as cheap as those in Warren county. To-day they are worth so much more, with no oil or gas considered in the prospective, that a comparison would be, in most cases, as one to one hundred.
Falconer returned to New York and completed his arrangements for a removal to Warren; but his wife died ere the second trip was commenced, hence he reappeared at Warren alone. He soon became one of its prominent and highly-respected citizens; was elected a county commissioner in 1823, and was numbered as one of the merchants of the town prior to 1830. In 1834 he completed the stone building on High street, known during late years as the "Tanner House," and, when the Lumbermen's Bank (of which he was president) was organized during the same year, its office was established in that structure. The bank failed in 1838. Being severely and probably unjustly censured by reason of this failure, Mr. Falconer never regained his former exuberance of spirits and business activity, and finally sank into a state of utter helplessness, physically speaking, which only ended with his death. He married a second wife in this county, but left no children. The present Falconers are descendants of Patrick, a son of Patrick the brother of Robert, who, when the last war with England began, would not live longer in a country where dukes and lords and kings and queens were spoken of irreverently, and returned to Scotland. Robert Falconer purchased for this nephew a fine farm, now occupied, in whole or in part, by the State Asylum at North Warren. [HWC 1887, 331]
The Lumbermen's Bank of Warren, the first banking institution established in Warren County, was incorporated by an act of the State Legislature approved February 28, 1834. Robert Falconer, Josiah Hall, Robert Russell, Guy C. Irvine, Archibald Tanner, and Robert Miles, all of Warren county, were named as commissioners to execute the many provisions of the act. With Robert Falconer as president, and Fitch Shepard cashier, the bank began business during the same year (1834), with a paid-up capital stock of $100,000, divided into shares of $50 each. Subsequently the directors were authorized by a legislative act to increase the capital stock to $200,000. Its notes were widely circulated, and it transacted a large (and as it was supposed very successful) business until 1838, when the financial panic, which swept the whole country at that time, caused its sudden collapse and failure. Much of Mr. Falconer's private fortune went to swell the aggregate of losses; besides being unjustly censured because of the failure, his proud, honorable, and sensitive nature met with such a shock that it gradually destroyed his mind and hastened his death. [HWC 1887, 355]
One of the most noteworthy of the pioneers of Sugar Grove, Warren County, Pennsylvania, was Robert Falconer. He was born in Inveraven, Banffshire, Scotland, on the 22d of December, 1780. He was descended from a wealthy and ancient family, who could never forget that they were "lairds" in the days of Monteith and Wallace and McDoogh, and bravely fought with Bruce at Brannockburn. Yet Robert was thoroughly republican in opinion and practice. He was graduated from old Aberdeen in 1808, and soon after emigrated to America, not only to increase his wealth, but to enjoy its free republican institutions, to which he was a convert. In this country he married Eliza, a sister of Henry Catlin and Mrs. Richard B. Miller, who was born at New Haven, New York, on the 15th of October, 1802, and affectionately per-formed the duties of wifehood until her death, on the 10th of January, 1850. For several years after his arrival in the United States Mr. Falconer was engaged in the purchase and sale of cotton in New York and Charleston, South Carolina, sending large invoices to Glasgow, and other parts of Scotland. In 1816 a brother in Scotland, who never was in the United States, desired to join him in the purchase of lands, with the intention of making a Scotch settlement, for which the brother at home was to select and send over an extra class of emigrants. Accordingly, Mr. Falconer came to Jamestown, New York, in 1817, and passed the summer in examining the surrounding county. He was an excellent surveyor, and many of our early roads were afterward surveyed by him. During this visit he would frequently make long trips into the wilderness, always on foot, and sometimes remaining away for a week. His favorite resort was along the valleys of the Stillwater and the Brokenstraw. Finally he selected lands just east of the village of Sugar Grove, which he declared should be his future home. He returned to New York for his family (by his first wife) in the winter of 1818, and in the following spring was established in Sugar Grove. He was at that time deemed to be the most wealthy man in this part of the country. He loaned considerable money, and was very active in laying out roads, effecting improvements, and in all ways aiding in the settlement of the town. In 1829 he removed to Warren, and became interested in the Lumbermen's Bank, of which he was made president. Through the rascality of those who were supposed to be its friends and supporters, the bank was broken, and in his attempts to save it Mr. Falconer lost largely of his wealth, and suffered a permanent impairment of health. He returned to Sugar Grove in 1840 a mental ruin, where he died on the 20th of October, 1851. [HWC 1887, 426]
Two brothers came to America about 1775, located in New York, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Robert followed them after he had graduated at the Aberdeen University in 1800. For several years he was engaged in the purchase and sale of cotton in New York, and Charleston, South Carolina. He sent large invoices of cotton to Liverpool, Glasgow, and other places in England and Scotland. In 1810 a brother in Scotland desired to join him in the purchase of lands, with the intention of making a Scotch settlement in America, for which the brother at home was to select an extra class of immigrants.
In accordance with this arrangement, Mr. Falconer, in 1817, visited Chautauqua County, New York, and Warren and Erie counties, Pennsylvania, making his home with Dr. Hazeltine, of Jamestown, New York, and remaining several months. During this time he traversed the forests and carefully inspected the country. He made long trips into the wilderness, always on foot, being frequently absent a week at a time and having for his companions on these excursions his compass, Jacob-staff, a heavy hatchet. His favorite resort was along the Stillwater and Brokenstraw creeks beyond Sugar Grove. That section was then an almost unbroken wilderness, and he passed through it in almost every possible direction, running lines and ascertaining the area of certain tracts. He was an excellent surveyor, and many of the early roads were surveyed by him. Formerly it used to be said "that a thousand trees bore the blaze of Falconer's hatchet." Finally Mr. Falconer selected lands near Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, for his future abode, and returned to New York in the winter of 1818 to prepare for his new home.
His first wife having died, he brought to the Western wilds two sons, Robert and Patrick, and settled at Sugar Grove in 1819. Robert Falconer was at that time considered the wealthiest man in this section of the country. He loaned considerable money, and was distinguished for his public spirit and untiring zeal in the promotion of every enterprise calculated to advance the interests of this country. He soon became fully identified with the land of his adoption, and was accustomed to say that "he came to this country not only to escape the dying feudalism of old Scotland, but to enjoy those three great and glorious gifts to man, the free, the good, and the beautiful."
He was active in bringing many settlers from his native land, who were employed in laying out roads and in the general improvement of the country. About 1823 he was joined by a nephew named Patrick, a son of his brother Patrick, who lived in Scotland.
In 1828 Robert Falconer formed a business connection with Archibald Tanner, a prominent business man of Warren, which lasted for five years. In 1829 he removed to Warren, where, as before, he bought and sold land, laid out roads, and in many ways added to the material development of the town. With Archibald Tanner and a few other kindred spirits he was the organizer of the first circulating library in Warren. Early in the "thirties" he became interested in the Lumberman's Bank of Warren, of which he was the first president. The bank was wrecked by those who were supposed to be its friends and supporters. Mr. Falconer, in attempts to save it, lost largely of his wealth, and his health was seriously impaired. After his many useless efforts to retrieve the losses of the bank, a large portion of his wealth gone, broken in spirits and health, he returned to Sugar Grove in 1840, where he later died. It was said of him that he would long be remembered for the good he had planned and accomplished for his adopted country, and for his great kindness of heart, shown especially in assisting young men to start in business. [BOB37JD, 142]
1 —, Book of Biographies, 37th Judicial District, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 142.
2 —, Book of Biographies, 37th Judicial District, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 143.
3
John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 913.
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