Alexander McGuffey and Mary Hemphill

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Husband Alexander McGuffey ¹

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           Born: 19 Nov 1767 - Gallowayshire, Scotland 1
     Christened: 
           Died: Mar 1855 - Trumbull Co, OH 1
         Buried: 

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         Father: William McGuffey (Abt 1742-1836) 1
         Mother: Anna McKittrick (1744-1834) 1

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       Marriage: 1831 - Washington Co, PA 1

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   Other Spouse: Anna Holmes (      -      ) 2 - 1794 2

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Wife Mary Hemphill ¹

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           Born: 9 Feb 1793 - Hagerstown, Washington Co, MD 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 31 Aug 1892 1
         Buried: 

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Children

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1 F Harriet McGuffey ¹

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           Born: 21 Mar 1832 - Trumbull Co, OH 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John Love (1824-1908) 1 3
           Marr: 17 Dec 1856 1

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2 F Margaret McGuffey ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Andrew J. Dunlap (1837-      ) 4
           Marr: 1 Jan 1861 4

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3 F Nancy McGuffey ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Jun 1856 1
         Buried: 

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General Notes: Husband - Alexander McGuffey

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In 1790, when Alexander was twenty-one years of age, he left his farm work and with his friend Duncan McArthur, afterward governor of Ohio, became a spy in the campaign against the Indians. The two had been selected by Samuel Brady, brother of General Hugh Brady of the regular army, and the choice was the result of a competitive examination in which the contestants had not always known that they were even under observation. The many applicants for the position were finally cut down to five young men, who were required to run races, hunt deer and shoot at a mark. Not satisfied with these tests, Brady sent the five into the woods for Indians, and then dispatched older spies, dressed like savages, to skulk through the same forest and find out which of the applicants would stand to their guns and which would retreat. The result of both the open and the secret tests was to fix upon young McGuffey and Brady. They spent the first year scouting around Wheeling, and hunting deer and bear. During the summer of 1791 they had more dangerous service to perform, as they were sent with Captain Boggs and a small expedition across the Ohio river into what later became Belmont County, Ohio. At the forks of Little Captina the Indians attacked the whites, killing Captain Boggs, who was in advance of his men. McGuffey and McArthur then took to cover and returned the fire of the invisible enemy: the savages when they found that they outnumbered the whites three to one, broke from cover, but, with the exception of their leader, all the party escaped. Five savages pursued McArthur and three McGuffey. The latter first ran up the hill from the creek and when he reached the top his pursuers were so near him that he stopped and pointed his empty gun at them. They dropped into the grass and he escaped through the woods. At the conclusion of the campaign some of the Indians who took part in this attack came to Wheeling. One of them shook hands with Mr. McGuffey and said he was one of the three who had chased him up the hill. As he was still in doubt as to their comparative fleetness, the two ran a race on the spot, and McGuffey won. In the same year of this engagement Brady, McArthur and McGuffey made an expedition quite across what is now the state of Ohio to Cold Spring, near Sandusky City, where they discovered the preparations being made by the Indians at this point to attack General St. Clair. Deciding that the American commander should be informed of his danger, they started back on the trail of one of the Indian parties. As they were surrounded by the savages they were afraid to shoot game, so choked their two small dogs to death and lived upon their flesh. On the third day they reached St. Clair and, although they informed him of the situation, the Indians gained a victory. Throughout the next summer the Indians were very troublesome and the spies kept near the settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia. General Wayne was then coming with a part of his army and finally encamped at Economy, sixteen miles below Pittsburg, where he was visited by Mr. McGuffey. In 1794, at the conclusion of the Indian campaigns, when his services as a spy and scout were no longer needed, he married and settled in Washington County, PA, until 1802, when they removed to Trumbull County, Ohio, where he died at the remarkable age of ninety-four years, more than half a century of which had been passed as a farmer. [HMC 1909, 623]

1 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 622.

2 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 624.

3 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 869.

4 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 882.