Husband Dunning McNair 1
AKA: Dunnen McNer 2
Born: 23 Jul 1762 - West Pennsborough Twp, Cumberland Co, PA 3
Christened:
Died: 1825 4
Buried: - Beulah Cemetery
Father: David McNair, Jr. ( -Abt 1776/1782) 5 6
Mother: Ann Dunning ( - ) 5 6
Marriage: 6 Apr 1786 3
• Residence: Dumpling Hall: Wilkinsburg, Allegheny Co, PA.
Wife Ann(e) Harris Stewart 3
Born: 1764 - Maryland 7
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Col. George Stewart (1736-Abt 1786) 3
Mother: Margaret Harris (Abt 1736-1815) 3
• Ancestry Information: Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee, Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity (Wilkinsburg, PA: The Group for Historical Research, 1940).
For information about her ancestry, click here.
Children
1 M David McNair 3
Born: 11 Jan 1787 - Allegheny Co, PA 3
Christened:
Died: Jan or Feb 1787
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
2 M David Stewart McNair 8
Born: 1789 8
Christened:
Died: Abt 1803
Buried: - Beulah Cemetery
Spouse: Did Not Marry
3 M George Harris McNair 8
Born: 1795 8
Christened:
Died: while young - ? Missouri
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
4 M Dunning Robert McNair 8
Born: 1797 8
Christened:
Died: 1875 - Washington, D. C. 4
Buried:
Spouse: Catherine Steele ( - ) 8
Marr: Abt 1826
5 F Anna Maria McNair 9
AKA: Anna Stewart McNair 8
Born: 1804 8
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: John Williams Anderson ( - ) 10
Marr: 1835 10
6 F Margaret Harris McNair 8
Born: 1806 8
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Capt. Robert Steele ( - ) 8
Marr: 1830 - Beulah Church 4
7 M John Wilkins Washington McNair 8
Born: 22 Feb 1809 8
Christened:
Died: 1836 8
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
General Notes: Husband - Dunning McNair
Soon after his birth, his parents moved to Milford Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. In 1789 this section was included in the newly erected Mifflin County, and on March 2, 1831, became a part of Juniata County. From the time of the removal from West Pennsboro Township to Milford Township, the Ann Dunning McNair plantation adjoined that of Colonel George Stewart. As a boy Dunning worked on his mother's farm, and acquired a good education for that time. As a young man he served in the Pennsylvania Militia and in this service acquired his title of Colonel.
Family chronicles state that he came west with his grandfather, James Horner II, in 1786. However this may be, he and his wife were married in her father's house April 6, 1786, and came west in November of that year. The journey was made on horseback.
In the decade of 1790-1800 Colonel McNair built a family mansion. The "Crow's Nest", their first log cabin residence, had burned down. The ground on which it stood was sold in the spring of 1818 to John Cannon, a businessman of Pittsburgh. The new house, standing in forest land south of the Great Road (at or near the later corner of Hay and Kelly Streets) was built of pebble stones, many of which may have been taken from the stony bed of a branch of Nine Mile Run which flowed through the land. The house was two stories (with low attic), having originally two rooms, hallway and stairs on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second. A row of slave huts at the back of the house furnished space for kitchen and all domestic requirements. Mrs. McNair, as has been said, was born in Maryland and lived there eleven years, so that she was to the manner born to the service and management of slaves. It is not known just when a frame "L" of four rooms, two lower and two upper, and a lower and upper porch were added, giving a more spacious look to the building.
Colonel McNair's stone house, so modest in size, was spoken of as "The Manor House," and considered a mansion, as indeed it was compared to the humble log cabins of his neighbors. Within the house were oaken floors, white pine doors and window frames, curiously carved mantel pieces, high as a man's head, and fire places with deep grates and iron-back walls ornamented with fancy designs; some of the frames around the grates at that period portrayed the Lord's Supper. There were deep window sills and small paned window sashes, thick six paneled doors, and a stair balustrade rail that probably owed its satiny sheen to the joyful, rapid, straddling descent of the six McNair children and their many friends.
The house stood in spacious, grassy grounds, through which curved and babbled the waters of the run, which in springtime furnished untold joy to children of that period as it did to the small fry of later generations.
The ground was enclosed, but a high posted gateway with wide iron gates provided ingress and egress for horses and vehicles and later for carriages that frequented the manor house. For a manor house indeed it became, a center of hospitality with a host of most generous impulses and a hostess excelling in grace and amiability.
One day Colonel McNair was showing guests around the premises. As they walked around, one of the friends remarked, "Colonel, those stones look like big apple dumplings." "So they do," said the others, and laughingly they christened the house "Dumpling Hall," and thereafter it was so known.
In 1799 he was elected a member of the state legislature. He was appointed chairman of several committees dealing with vital questions of
the day. He presented:
The bill to abolish slavery in Pennsylvania.
The bill to provide schools for the instruction of youth.
A petition from the inhabitants of the Borough of Pittsburgh to erect, at their own expense, a Market House on the banks of the Monongahela at the end of Market Street.
A bill for use of lotteries in order to furnish school houses.
No matter what honors were given him at home or abroad, the ever-growing dark cloud of debt was closing down on him. Different reasons are given to explain his difficulties, such as: that he was not paid for the land that he sold; the panic that followed the War of 1812; and the scarcity of money everywhere. No wonder the easy-going man, fond of display, went under, and that his land was taken over by the Pennsylvania Population Company, of which Judge William Griffith was the agent. The Pennsylvania Population Company failed and the land passed into the possession of the Holland Land Company, heavy investors in the new counties of the northwestern territory, for which Mark W. Collett was agent. Mark W. Collett also failed and soon after the tract which was later to be Wilkinsburg was bought by James Kelly of Penn Township for $12,000. Dunning McNair survived the loss of his property but a short time. His funeral was a very modest one.
General Notes: Wife - Ann(e) Harris Stewart
Her daughter, Mrs. Margaret Harris Steele, said of her: "She was tall with dark hair, gray eyes, fair complexion and had an expressive face"; a niece said: "She was tall, slender, fine looking, and straight as an arrow"; another niece described her as: "pretty, amiable, and who, although living in much finer style than any of her brothers or sisters, always generously shared with them her kindness and hospitality." This niece adds, "Aunt was always a welcome guest in our home in Alexandria, Pennsylvania, when she made her horseback journeys to visit us and other relatives elsewhere."