John Downie and Mary Niblock
Husband John Downie 1 2
Born: 1804 - near Belfast, Ireland 1 Christened: Died: 1888 - near Auburn, Shawnee Co, KS 1 Buried: - near Winchester, Jefferson Co, KS
Father: [Unk] Downie (Abt 1740- ) 1 Mother: [Unk] Craig (Abt 1768- ) 1
Marriage: 1824 2
Wife Mary Niblock 1 2
Born: 1805 - near Belfast, Ireland 1 Christened: Died: 1868 - near Winchester, Jefferson Co, KS 1 Buried: - near Winchester, Jefferson Co, KS
Father: [Father] Niblock ( - ) Mother:
Children
1 M James Niblock Downie 2 3
Born: 25 Mar or 25 May 1825 - County Down, Ireland 2 3 Christened: Died: Nov 1907 3 Buried: - Mars Cemetery, Butler Co, PASpouse: Jane Boyle Magee ( -Abt 1917) 4 5 Marr: 13 Oct 1852 4 5
2 F Annie Downie 3
Born: 15 Dec 1826 - near Belfast, Ireland 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: James Glasgow ( - ) 3 Marr: 22 Jan 1852 3
3 F Susanna Downie 3
Born: 2 Nov 1828 - Ireland 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: James Shields ( - ) 3 Marr: 4 Jul 1856 3
4 M John Downie, Jr. 3
Born: 22 Sep 1830 - Ireland 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Mary A. Young ( - ) 1 Marr: 20 Dec 1857 3Spouse: Mary A. Thorp ( - ) 1 Marr: 3 Nov 1869 1
5 M Robert Downie 3
Born: 6 Mar 1832 - Ireland 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Sarah Henley ( - ) 3 Marr: 3 Dec 1866 3
6 M Henry Downie 3
Born: 7 May 1834 - Ireland 3 Christened: Died: Aft 1914 Buried:Spouse: Elizabeth Kerr ( - ) 3 Marr: 30 Oct 1856 3
7 M Thomas H. Downie 3
Born: 29 Jul 1836 - Ireland 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Florence Bishop ( - ) 3 Marr: 30 Apr 1876 3
8 F Mary Downie 3
Born: 27 Feb 1838 - Ireland 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: J. S. Herring ( - ) 3 Marr: 18 Jul 1860 3
9 M Martin Downie 3
Born: 7 Sep 1840 - Ireland 3 Christened: Died: 1868 3 Buried:
10 M Alexander Downie 3
Born: 4 Jul 1842 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Maggie Duncan ( - ) 3 Marr: 24 Dec 1883 3
11 M Edward B. Downie 3
Born: 17 Aug 1845 - near Glade Mills, Butler Co, PA 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Mary Thornburgh ( - ) 3 Marr: 2 Mar 1876 3Spouse: Lola Kincaid ( - ) 3 Marr: 15 Apr 1886 3
12 F Elizabeth J. Downie 3
Born: 18 Apr 1847 - near Evans City, Butler Co, PA 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: T. B. Pitcher ( - ) 3 Marr: 11 Oct 1866 3
General Notes: Husband - John Downie
He married and settled on a farm in County Down, Ireland, and lived there for fifteen years, during which time they had six sons and two daughters born to them. In 1842 he and his wife and children left Ireland and came to America, landing in Washington after a nine weeks' voyage, and then, in a six-horse wagon, they and all their belongings came across the Allegheny Mountains to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, along the Old National Turnpike. From Brownsville they descended the Monongahela River to Pittsburgh, and after a short stay there, moved to Butler County, Pennsylvania, where the family lived until about 1856. This was the period of pre-Civil War excitement, and John Downie, being like most Covenanters, a man of strong convictions, was quick to identify himself with the anti-slavery cause. When the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, or as it was popularly known, the Squatter Sovereignty Bill, was passed, throwing Kansas and other western territory open to slavery, John Downie, with others, hastened to move into Kansas for the purpose of outvoting the slavery sympathizers. He and his family left Pennsylvania, traveled down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by boat to St. Louis and up the Missouri River, but about fifty miles from St. Louis, the boat was attacked by border ruffians, and the Free State men were compelled to leave. John Downie and his family, however, continued their journey by land, and finally crossed into Kansas near Fort Leavenworth, and settled at a spot near where the town of Winchester was later located. In the struggles of "bloody Kansas" during this period, Mr. Downie was active on the side of the Free State men, both from religious convictions and from natural sympathies, and two of his sons later enlisted in the Union Army when the Civil War broke out. For ten years the Downies were the only Covenanter family in the territory of Kansas, but later they and a few other families who had moved in organized the Winchester Reformed Presbyterian, or Covenanter, congregation, on September 7, 1867. Afterwards John Downie moved to Wayne County, Nebraska, where he lived for some years, but he returned to Kansas and died there at the age of ninety-one. He and his wife are both buried near Winchester. They were the parents of twelve children, eight born in Ireland, four in America.
He was reared to manhood in Ireland, there attending the public school, and became a follower of agricultural occupations. When he was thirty-eight years of age he decided to try his fortunes in the United States, and accordingly arrangements were made and he and his family prepared for their departure, the party including, besides himself, his wife and nine children. They were delayed in starting by a violent storm, which completely destroyed all of their goods, these having been piled on the deck of the channel steamer crossing to Liverpool. In consequence of this mishap they were compelled to provide themselves with an entirely new outfit, and the time consumed in so doing made them miss connections with the boat in which they were to cross the Atlantic, and it sailed without them. The next transatlantic ship did not leave port until two weeks later, so the little band waited in Liverpool until the day of its departure. Just as their vessel was about to leave port their surprise was great to see the boat on which they had first engaged passage being towed into the harbor a total wreck, a sight filling them with a feeling of thankfulness for their minor misfortunes, which had saved them from the terrible experience of a shipwreck on the open seas. Their voyage was a long one even for those days of slow-sailing vessels, requiring one hundred and one days, the party arriving in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 20, 1842, having come directly to that city from their port of entry. John Downie and his family later moved to Kansas, where he followed his original business, farming. He and his wife were members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
1 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 131.
2 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 205.
3 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 132.
4 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 133.
5
George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 206.
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