Samuel Shannon and Martha "Rebecca" Reed

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Husband Samuel Shannon ^{1 2}

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Martha "Rebecca" Reed ¹

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            AKA: Mattie Reed 2
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         Father: Robert Reed (Abt 1730-      ) 2 3
         Mother: Mary Pomeroy (      -      ) 3

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• Additional Information.
To read the story of her escape from the indians, click here.

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Children

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1 F Peggy Shannon ⁴

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         Spouse: Joe Roley (      -      ) 4

         Spouse: Henry Brant (      -      ) 4

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2 F Rachel Shannon ⁴

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         Spouse: Robert Mathews (      -      ) 4

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3 F Rebecca "Beckie" Shannon ^{1 4}

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           Born: 26 Mar 1793 - Westmoreland Co, PA 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 17 Sep 1865 6
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Isaac Donaldson (1791-1835) 1 4
           Marr: 29 Jun 1813 6

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4 F Sally Shannon ⁴

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         Spouse: George Fry (      -      ) 4

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General Notes: Wife - Martha "Rebecca" Reed

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"A story is told of [her] which is worth preserving. The lady's name was Martha Reed (generally known as Rebecca), and her father was one of Gen. Forbes' soldiers, who, in company with a number of others, left the army in its western expedition, in 1758, and settled in the Ligonier Valley, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Reed had a family of four children, of whom Martha was the eldest, a son named George being second in age. Miss Reed, like other women at the time, living at the fort they occupied, frequently indulged in outdoor sports with the male members of the settlement, and became noted for her extraordinary fleetness of foot. A young man named Samuel Shannon was the only one who could successfully compete with her in a race, and the two were afterward married. On a certain day, just after harvest was over, in 1778, Miss Reed and a lady friend, accompanied by George Reed and another male companion, started for a blackberry patch two miles away. On the way they met a Mr. McDowell on horseback, carrying a gun, and they had hardly recognized him before they were fired on by a party of Indians from an ambush near by. At the fire young Reed fell mortally wounded; the other young man was made a prisoner, and Miss Reed's lady companion killed. McDowell escaped in one direction, and Miss Reed started for the fort on a run, with the fleetest Indian of the band at her heels, determined to make her a prisoner. She led him a race of three-quarters of a mile, and was met by young Shannon, who observed her plight, and started to her rescue, reaching her just outside the fort. The Indian, seeing his prey escape him, turned and ran back, and was ever afterward looked upon with contempt by his brother warriors. Even the chieftain's daughter, to whom he was shortly to have been married, gave him the cold shoulder, and would have no more to do with the brave who had let a 'paleface squaw' outrun him."

1 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 980.

2 J. P. Lytle, The Reed Family (Marion Center, PA: Independent Office, 1909), Pg 6.

3 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 248.

4 J. P. Lytle, The Reed Family (Marion Center, PA: Independent Office, 1909), Pg 20.

5 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 1009.

6 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 1008.