Husband John Leonard Stright 1 2 3
AKA: J. L. Streit 4
Born: 1779 - Somerset Co, NJ 3
Christened:
Died: 22 Jan 1847 3 5
Buried:
Father: Lawrence Stright (1751-1812) 6
Mother: Margaret Roy (1757-1817) 6
Marriage: 1817 7
Other Spouse: Chloe Dodd ( -1816) 5 7 - 1804 7
• Residence: The Stright Family Homestead: Deer Creek Twp, Mercer Co, PA. The focal point for the John Warnock and Elvira Hall Stright family was the Stright homestead located in Deer Creek Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, two and a half miles east of Sheakleyville. John Leonard Stright, John Warnock Stright's father, traded his farm in Crawford County for the home-stead property early in the 19th century. A Mercer County history records "He partly cleared the land, erected the first log house in the vicinity and before his death in 1847 had moulded in crude fashion the beautiful features of the present homestead. He lived to see the beautiful grove of pines develop into things of grand beauty, and his son (John W.) enjoyed for years the fruit of the apple saplings which sprang up beneath one of the log cabin windows before even the child was born."
Just when the first building was erected on the property was not recorded, neither is the date of the building referred to above. John Leonard Stright was married in 1804 and must have moved to Deer Creek Township near that time.
His son, John Warnock Stright, operated sawmills after his father's death and lumber for building was not a problem. The home itself was quite commodious: On the first floor were two bedrooms, a parlor and sitting room and a large kitchen which was later made into a dining room. The original pantry was then made into a kitchen. The door off the kitchen led into a large woodhouse shown in the picture. A laundry and general utility room with pump and a large store room was entered from the wood house.
Five large bedrooms were on the second floor, one designated as "Aunt Anna's bedroom". At one end of the hall was the door leading to the attic.
Off the sitting and dining area on the first floor was a porch with a swing on one end. The stairs off the porch led down to the milk house where refrigeration was provided by water flowing through it from a spring on a hill back of the house.
Right in front of the front porch was a huge pine tree measuring nearly four feet at the base. The tree was planted by John Warnock Stright. On Nov. 13, 1938 cousins Edith Beckrink and Maude Paddock with their husbands were visiting the homestead. They arrived in a windstorm and had hardly gotten out of their car when the tree was blown over, striking the top of the car.
To drive into the homestead was always an occasion to be remembered. About a quarter of a mile from the homestead was a large gate which had to be opened and shut. On the left was the "swamp". On the right was a field and at one end of it near the road was the sheep barn.
Back of the house were the farm buildings. The first building was used as a hog pen on the west side of the down stairs and the other side and upstairs served as a chicken coop. At the rear was the corn crib. Farthest away from the house was a large barn with silos.
The Stright homestead remained in the family until 1945 when it was purchased by Robert M. McCartney. After the property had been taken over as a part of the Maurice K. Goddard State Park, the McCartneys moved out in 1969. The water impounded by a dam is called Lake Wilhelm.
And so after more than a century and a half the Stright family homestead becomes a memory.
Wife Mary Warnock 1 2 7
Born: - Ireland
Christened:
Died: 13 Jan 1854 4
Buried: - Fairfield Cemetery, New Vernon Twp, Mercer Co, PA
Children
1 F Jane Stright 5 8
Born: Abt 1820
Christened:
Died: 2 Jun 1842 8
Buried:
2 M John Warnock Stright 1 9 10
Born: 6 Jan 1824 - Deer Creek Twp, Mercer Co, PA 9 10
Christened:
Died: 20 Jun 1891 - Mercer Co, PA 5 8
Buried: - Sheakleyville Cemetery, Sheakleyville, Mercer Co, PA
Spouse: Elvira H. Hall (1825-1909) 5 11
Marr: 28 Oct 1851 8
General Notes: Husband - John Leonard Stright
The Sandy Creek contingent of Washington's army is known to have encamped near the site of what became the Stright homestead, and La Fayette, during his visit to the United States in 1824, while making his stage trip from Erie, lodged at the Stright residence, and the furniture and bed which he used while sleeping there were then held as precious relics. The day after this visit Mr. Stright accompanied La Fayette on horseback to Mercer. A part of the way they followed a trail marked by blazed trees, and on his return darkness overtook him so that he could not see the blaze on the trees. As he could not follow the trail he spent the night in the woods while his wife paced the floor of their cabin thinking he had been eaten by bears. [HMC 1909, 1019]
At an early day John L. Stright settled in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, and in 1792 traded his farm in that section of the state for the tract in Sandy Creek Township, Mercer County which became the family homestead. He partly cleared the land, erected the first log house in the vicinity, and before his death had molded in crude fashion the beautiful features of the present homestead. He lived to see the beautiful grove of pines develop into things of grand beauty, and his son (John W.) enjoyed for years the fruit of the apple sapling which sprang up beneath one of the log cabin windows before even the child was born. John L. Stright was a soldier in the War of 1812, and in connection with his farming operations operated a small saw mill, which was run by water power. He found a market for his lumber in Pittsburg, rafting the manufactured product down Sandy creek. In politics he was a Whig and in religion a Presbyterian. It may be added that the Stright family is of German stock, its earliest American settlers locating in Virginia. Laurance Stright, a paternal granduncle, was a civil engineer by profession, and in that capacity made the original survey of the family homestead. [HMC 1909, 1018]
He had six children with his first wife.
General Notes: Wife - Mary Warnock
She was a weaver and spent a number of years of her life when she first came to the United States at New Castle, Delaware, and New Castle, Pennsylvania.