Benjamin Cunningham and Margaret Morton

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Husband Benjamin Cunningham ^{1 2 3 4}

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           Born: 10 Mar 1770 - Beaver or Lawrence Co, PA 3 4
     Christened: 
           Died: 1843 5
         Buried:  - United Presbyterian Church, Slippery Rock, Lawrence Co, PA

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         Father: [Father] Cunningham (      -      )
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Margaret Morton ^{1 2 6}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried:  - United Presbyterian Church, Slippery Rock, Lawrence Co, PA

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         Father: Joseph Morton (      -      ) 6
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 M Hon. John T. Cunningham ⁶

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            AKA: John C. Cunningham 7
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 15 Apr 1845 - Lawrence Co, PA 5
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Rachel Davidson (      -      ) 8

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2 F Anna Cunningham ⁶

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           Born: 14 May 1803 - Shenango Twp, Lawrence Co, PA 9
     Christened: 
           Died:  - Slippery Rock, Lawrence Co, PA
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John Smiley (1805-      ) 10
           Marr: 30 Aug 1827 9

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3 M William Cunningham ^{3 4 5 11}

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           Born: 15 May 1805 - ? Lawrence Co, PA 4 12
     Christened: 
           Died: 29 Jun 1878 - Venango Co, PA 11 12
         Buried:  - Clintonville U. M. Cemetery, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 13

         Spouse: Margaret White (      -      ) 4 12
           Marr: 23 Nov 1826 4 12

         Spouse: Polly Weimer (      -      ) 4 12

         Spouse: [Unk] Kline (      -Aft 1878) 5

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4 M Benjamin Cunningham ⁶

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died:  - Portsmouth, Scioto Co, OH
         Buried: 

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5 F Nancy Cunningham ¹⁴

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           Born: 12 May 1806 15
     Christened: 
           Died: 1895 - Lawrence Co, PA 15
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Jacob Houk (1801-1888) 9

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6 M Joseph M. Cunningham ^{2 9}

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           Born: Abt 1813
     Christened: 
           Died: 1843 - Lawrence Co, PA 2
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Isabella Wilson (      -      ) 2 5

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7 M [Infant] Cunningham ⁹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: in infancy
         Buried: 

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8 M [Infant] Cunningham ⁹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: in infancy
         Buried: 

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General Notes: Husband - Benjamin Cunningham

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The Cunningham family is of Scotch-Irish origin and an old family in Pennsylvania, established here during the Provincial period. Benjamin Cunningham was born in either Lawrence or Beaver County, but it is not known whether he was a son or grandson of the immigrant ancestor.

Another source: he was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, about 1768.

There were twelve householders in a colony that came from Westmoreland County in 1796 and built their log cabins close together on a small cleared tract in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. The sturdy pioneers left their families behind until the following year, when they returned and brought them to the new homes in what was then a veritable wilderness.

He settled in 1796 on a farm in Wayne Township, Lawrence County, which was later owned by J. N. Fallis, of New Castle. While building his first house he subsisted, as did the numerous Indians of the locality, on fish and the wild game which was plentiful in the forests.

He and his wife were the parents of a large family, seven of whom reached maturity.

He was an elder in the United Presbyterian Church at Slippery Rock, which he helped to organize.

He came to Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, at a time when there were but two white settlers there, one being Hugh Gaston, located near Moravia, and the other a man named Nye, who lived in the area that is now Ellwood City. He came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1796, being accompanied by eleven others, among them being his brother, William Cunningham, Joseph and Abel Hennon, William Carnes and his brother, and a Mr. Stambaugh. After locating their land and making a small clearing, they planted corn and potatoes. In the fall of 1796 they went back to Westmoreland County, to return in the spring of 1797, on horseback, following the Indian trail. The land was partly what was known as donation land, granted to the Revolutionary service soldiers, and the remainder was purchased by the Chews at a cent and a half per acre. The first settlers were given 425 acres of land, six acres for every hundred being given for road purposes, and after five years, the settler was given title to 212 acres for the improvements made on the whole of it. Benjamin Cunningham settled near what was later the Houk farm near the big ore bank, and his brother located just below him.

He died in 1843 at age sixty-eight. [TCHNCLC, 825]

1 —, History of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1877), Pg 129.

2 —, Book of Biographies, Lawrence County, PA (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1897), Pg 470.

3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 964.

4 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 327.

5 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 825.

6 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 742.

7 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 690.

8 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 743, 825.

9 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 880.

10 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 742, 829, 880.

11 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1005.

12 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 965.

13 Venango County Historical Society, Venango County Pennsylvania Cemetery Records and Early Church Histories, Vol. 2, Clinton Township (Franklin, PA: Venango County Historical Society, 1994), Pg 31.

14 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 442, 880.

15 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 442.