James Gilliland and Hannah McCracken
Husband James Gilliland 1 2
Born: Abt 1774 - Chester Co, PA Christened: Died: 25 Apr 1860 - Frenchcreek Twp, Venango Co, PA 3 4 Buried:
Father: James Gilliland (1739-1798) 5 Mother: Hannah Adams (1736- ) 6
Marriage: 1806 7
Other Spouse: Margaret McClaran (Abt 1793-1877) 7 8
Wife Hannah McCracken 9
Born: 1790 7 Christened: Died: Abt 1810 - Venango Co, PA Buried:
Father: Thomas McCracken ( - ) 7 Mother:
Children
1 F Hannah Gilliland 8 10
Born: Jun 1808 - Polk, Frenchcreek Twp, Venango Co, PA 11 Christened: Died: 17 Dec 1870 - Clarke Co, IA 4 Buried: - Ward Twp, Clarke Co, IASpouse: John Henderson (1799-1870) 10
2 F Eliza Gilliland 12
Born: Abt 1810 - Venango Co, PA Christened: Died: 23 Nov 1878 - Frenchcreek Twp, Venango Co, PA 13 Buried:Spouse: James Hays (1810-1884) 14 Marr: Abt 1838-1839
General Notes: Husband - James Gilliland
He was one of the first school teachers in Venango County, Pennsylvania.
The ancestry came from Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania, east of the mountains. He came to Venango County in 1802, when a young man, and made a settlement on Little Sandy creek, about a mile north of Polk, where he resided until his death. He is remembered as one of the leading citizens of the community in which he lived, was an earnest member of the Presbyterian church, and it was largely through his efforts and liberality that the congregation at Polk was organized and a house of worship erected. [HVC 1890, 1011]
Venango Citizen Press, Franklin, PA
March 14, 1923
EARLY HISTORY OF WATERLOO CHURCH AT POLK IS DESCRIBED IN ADDRESS
by Mark S. McKinley
Delivered on the Occasion of the 66th Anniversary
Celebration at the Church, March 6, 1923
"One hundred twenty-one years ago, in the month of May, there came into this county a young man, 28 years old, dressed in a suit of buckskin, the hunters' garb of the times. Carrying a flint lock rifle on his shoulder, and having some Continental Congress currency in his pocket-the total amount of the property he possessed in the world. This young man was from the eastern part of our great state of Pennsylvania, Westmoreland county. His name was James Gilliland, the pioneer and first of his name and the founder of this the Waterloo Presbyterian church, over 50 years afterward.
"Mr. Gilliland settled and took up land, afterward paying the state for every acre cleared, on the banks of North Sandy Creek, about one mile north of Waterloo. Though a man of short stature and small weight, he was destined to become great in doing things well among his fellowmen. He taught the first school in Frenchcreek township, when this part of the county of Venango was all Frenchcreek township, comprising Utica boro, Polk boro, about one half of the present township of Mineral, and what is now all Frenchcreek township. This school was placed just across the forks of the road near the present Millcreek cemetery, and then close by the Old Millcreek Presbyterian church, afterwards removed to Utica.
"James Gilliland taught this school several short winter terms, then in the long springs and summers he would clear his land and crop it, and harvest it, all by hand, until he was able to buy and settle and clear 600 acres, and build his log house and barns.
"Mr. Gilliland married Hannah McCracken, a young lady who went to school to him, that first year he taught in the Millcreek schoolhouse. To them were born two girls, Hannah and Eliza. Hannah married into the Henderson family of Sandycreek township and removed to the state of Iowa. Eliza married James Hays, a young pioneer who had settled on land about one mile further west along Sandycreek. And to them belongs the credit of being the first parents
of all the Hayes' now living in our community and also the parents of Mrs. Sarah Hughes of this boro. Mrs. Hughes has been a member of her father's church 53 years, her father and her grandfather being the first two elders of this church.
"The direct descendants of Hannah and Eliza Gilliland, the children to Mr. Gilliland and his first wife, include the Hendersons, and the Hayes family of our community and number 105 people.
"After the death of Mrs. Gilliland, James Gilliland married a McClarren who raised another family of children whose descendants now make up our friends and neighbors by the name of Gilliland. These descendants number about 170.
"In the year 1829 Mr. Gilliland was quite active in securing the first school in Waterloo, still in Frenchcreek township. This first schoolhouse was built on the present site of the modern building now standing on the lot secured by Mr. Gilliland.
"James Gilliland's church life was very rigid and pronounced. Totally Presbyterian of the old school, he did not allow his family to do one bit of work on the Sabbath day. Even the Sunday meals were prepared the Saturday before. He drove or rode horseback to church, when his children were small, going many miles and staying all day. When his children grew up they had to go to church every Sabbath and walk sometimes to the Old Millcreek Presbyterian church and sometimes to Franklin. Mr. Gilliland was an elder in the Millcreek church for many years, but after the roads got better for walking and horseback riding, he started taking his family to Franklin. This was about the year of 1835 and they attended the church there for about 20 years.
"In the year of 1854, Mr. Gilliland bought one half acre of land situated on the bend of big Sandycreek, in Waterloo, from Robert Temple, paying him $50 in cash for this property, and at the age of 80 years, started to build the present church. Most of the old people living today, who remember the erection of this church, truthfully say and claim that Mr. Gilliland did just as much of the manual work on the construction of it, consisting of the splitting the stone, the scoring and hewing and cutting of the big timbers, as any man who worked towards its completion, being always on the job, and directing at all times. The material and fixtures arrived on the ground very slowly, as of course the farming and harvesting, all done by hand those days, had to be taken care of meantime. All planning and seating, all sash and door making, all the flooring had to be worked up and smoothed up by honest toil and hard labor. No one hurrying very fast, the entire church was not finished until November, 1856.
"The service of dedication was held March 5, 1857, by Dr. Eaton of the Franklin Presbyterian Church and Rev. James Coulter, of Clintonville. The Waterloo Presbyterian church was organized the same day with one elder, James Gilliland, and nine other members, one among whom was Margaret Ann Black, afterwards Margaret Ann Potts, mother of Mrs. Edna Moran, of our present membership and one of our best Sabbath school workers. This makes a continuous membership of Mrs. Moran and her mother of the entire life-time of the Waterloo Presbyterian church.
"The first grouping of our church for preaching service was with Clintonville and Wesley, two churches now in Butler Presbytery. James Coulter was the first minister but only preached here once a month.
"On April 25, 1860, James Gilliland, founder and builder of this church, hereafter called Waterloo Presbyterian church, of Polk post office, was called to his reward at the age of 86 years, leaving a will and testament devising the church and property to trustees of the congregation and to their successors forever.
"The remains of James Gilliland lie at rest in the private family burial ground overlooking the land that he cleared and settled and gave to his sons, on the banks of North Sandy Creek, marked by an old fashioned slab tombstone. But the monument of his firm Christianity and steadfast belief is here in these four walls, which he built with his hands and his substance, as an altar of thanksgiving to his God.
"Let us remember him kindly and give him a place in our thoughts this day and hereafter as one, who, by the help and guiding hand of the Master, gave to us our church in the days of our grandfathers for us to hold and enjoy and to love forever."
General Notes: Wife - Hannah McCracken
She died while giving birth to her daughter Eliza.
1 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 595.
2 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 565, 1011.
3 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1011.
4 Oren V. Henderson, The Descendants of Robert Henderson of Hendersonville, Pennsylvania (Durham, NH: Self-Published, 1947), Pg 37.
5 Pat H. Roberts, Hays (Self-published, 1999), Pg 125.
6 Cromlund, New, & Adams, The Descendants of William Adams (Self-published, 1999), Pg 2.
7 Pat H. Roberts, Hays (Self-published, 1999), Pg 40.
8 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1012.
9 Oren V. Henderson, The Descendants of Robert Henderson of Hendersonville, Pennsylvania (Durham, NH: Self-Published, 1947), Pg 35.
10 Oren V. Henderson, The Descendants of Robert Henderson of Hendersonville, Pennsylvania (Durham, NH: Self-Published, 1947), Pg 30.
11 Oren V. Henderson, The Descendants of Robert Henderson of Hendersonville, Pennsylvania (Durham, NH: Self-Published, 1947), Pg 34.
12 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1012, 1021.
13 Pat H. Roberts, Hays (Self-published, 1999), Pg 37.
14
—, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1021.
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