Husband Judge Alexander McCalmont 1 2
Born: 23 Oct 1785 - Greenwood, Mifflin Co, PA 3 4
Christened:
Died: 10 Aug 1857 3 5
Buried: - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA
Father: John McCalmont (1750/1750-1832) 6 7
Mother: Elizabeth Conard (1750/1752-1829/1829) 6 7 8
Marriage:
Other Spouse: Elizabeth Hart Connely (1801-1874) 5 9 - 1818 3 5
Wife Margaret "Peggy" Broadfoot 5
Born: 17 Oct 1789 10
Christened:
Died: 1 Mar 1817 3 5 11
Buried: - Old Pioneer Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA 11 12
Father: John Broadfoot (1745-1823) 11 13
Mother: Barbara [Unk] (1752-1810) 11
Children
• They had no children.
General Notes: Husband - Judge Alexander McCalmont
He moved with his parents to Venango County, Pennsylvania, and there he passed the remainder of his life. He gave early manifestations of a vigorous intellect, and though he had only ordinary advantages acquired a good practical education for the times, and taught school during his early manhood, having one of the first schools in Franklin. Later he embarked in mercantile pursuits and subsequently in the iron business, operating the first iron works in the county. But his ambitions were in another direction, and taking up the study of law with David Irvine he gained admission to the bar in 1820 and thereafter gave most of his time to legal practice, meeting with considerable professional success and acquiring a reputation as an able attorney. In 1839 he was appointed president judge of the Eighteenth Judicial district and served with distinction ten years. The district did not include Venango County until shortly before the close of his term, when it was taken from the Sixth district.
In his earlier life Judge McCalmont had been quite active in local politics as a Democrat, was sheriff in 1811, county commissioner in 1814, prothonotary in 1818, and also served as deputy surveyor, 1812-17. He died in the faith of the M. E. Church, which he joined in 1820. [CAB, 453]
Originally buried in the Old Franklin Cemetery, his remains were moved to the Franklin Cemetery April 20, 1876.
The following extracts from the notebook of Alexander McCalmont are very interesting, both as supplementary to the family record and for their historical value: I was born at a place called Greenwood in the Cishacoquillas Valley Oct. 23 (this is ten days later than the Bible record, Oct. 13), 1785. When about two years old my father moved to Nittany Valley and settled on a place at the head of a spring called Lick Run, the tract of land on which we lived and improved until the spring of 1803, adjoining the tract on which my uncle Thomas settled and on which Jacksonville is. My father's tract which he purchased was the one on which the village of Jacksonville is, and was bounded on the east by a tract owned by Capt. Thomas Wilson, on which he was settled before the Revolution. I recollect the day of my brother John's birth, and also recollect seeing the raising of the house in which he was born, and the small shanty, without any floor or loft, in which we lived before the house in which he was born was built. It was of hewed logs. Joseph McKibben was one of the corner men; he raised the northwest corner. It is strange that he is the only one assisting that I can recollect. I had come near the corner of the house on which he was, and he "throwed" chips at me and told me to go away. This I never forgot, and his image at the time and that of the building on the corner of which he was are still as fresh in my mind as the occurrences of yesterday. The first school I went to was taught by William Wilson. The schoolhouse was between Thomas Wilson's and William Wilson's. The land on which it stood was afterward owned by Samuel Beck. This was in 1792. The only persons living in Nittany Valley between where Bellefonte now is and Fishing Creek Narrows in my earliest recollection were as follows: William Lamb lived on Spring creek (now Belle-fonte); a German family by the name of Elson lived three miles further down the valley; Thomas Wilson next east of us; Thomas McCalmont around the point or little hill south of us; William Wilson lived down the valley or the next place east of Thomas Wilson's: William Swanzey next below; Joseph McKibben next; William Davis lived down near Fishing creek gap. There was no mill in Nittany Valley. Robert McClelland built the first mill in the narrows at Lick Run. I remember when he came to my father's. The second time he brought hands with him, Robert Lucas and Baptist Lucas. They lodged at my father's and sawed the stuff for the mill with a whip-saw. Philip Houses was the millwright whom Joseph McClelland settled on a tract next to my uncle Thomas, up the valley. A number of settlers came in soon after, and a road was opened for wagons down along the sunnier north side of the valley. At the time my father came to Nittany I think there were no improvements in the Nittany below Harbison's gap. John Harbison lived there at the time my father settled.
In 1794 the schoolhouse was erected on my uncle Thomas's land twenty or thirty perches southwest of my father's. William McGarvey was the first teacher and taught for two years. I attended this school most part of the time and sometimes in winter went barefoot through the snow. McClelland's mill had been burned, and when rebuilding I recollect Mr. Petit was master millwright. William Tipton and David Tipton were working at the mill and attended school in the winter. Thomas Wilson, John Shoup and other young men went from William Wilson's to the school past my father's and frequently carried me on their shoulders to school. About that time there were frequent meetings to make arrangements for building a meeting house and forming a congregation. The only sermon I had ever heard up to 1794 was preached by a Rev. Mr. Grier in Mr. Wilson's barn. His text was, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I think it was in 1795 or 1796 that arrangements were made to build a meeting house. It was built by Bennet Lucas and his boys of hewed logs. Pine trees were very plenty at that time and were not as valuable as at present. The meeting house was covered with lap shingles. I recollect I carried shingles to the top of the house for amusement. The first year there was nothing done to it but to cover it. It progressed very slowly. The next summer the door and floor were in. The first sermon I recollect was preached by a Mr. Johnston, a son-in-law of Judge Brown's. It is possible that others were preached there before. Henry R. Wilson took charge of the congregation and continued until I left in the spring of 1803. [CAB, 454]